Will Gompertz: I’m Giving The Culture Sec’y A Novel

The title of Sam Lipsyte’s “The Ask” “is American fund-raiser-speak for the quarry: the banker, the rich widow, the beneficiary of a will…. Mr Hunt might be interested in The Ask because he has said he wants to import American-style philanthropy to help mitigate against autumn’s government cuts in what he describes as ‘a horrible period for arts and cultural funding’.”