The Arts Council bailout averted that. But if it meant the spending of yet more public money, the throwing of good after bad, shouldn't the ICA simply have been left to close its doors and quietly fade away? 

We are constantly being told that the contemporary art scene in London is dynamic, vibrant and an important cash cow for the capital. Could not some of the moguls and philanthropists who clog up the summer party at the Serpentine Gallery, for example, have been called upon to stump up the much-needed cash? Perhaps they are more interested in associating with the mindlessly popular Tate Modern or the socially cool Frieze Art Fair.

Which raises the question: what is the ICA actually for now? There it is on the Mall: forlorn, irrelevant and largely ignored. It appears to function chiefly as a nice drop-in stop-off for culture vultures. That's all fine, if a private somebody is happy to pay for it. But nothing should come from the public purse. The Arts Council should have cut its grant completely, and if it then had to close, I'm sure almost nobody would notice it was gone.