We need to pay our artists, and for the most part we do, but there is a blind spot when it comes to radio. This is a story in two parts. I was contacted by a radio books show to review a new novel on air. After enquiry it was clear that this work would be unpaid. When I expressed that this was problematic, the host explained that she agreed it was not ideal but that there is nothing she can do: funding has been cut.

The middle-class expectation that arts work can go unpaid disadvantages those who are already disadvantaged. Put bluntly: people who need to put food on the table can’t afford to do work for free, because they need to spend that time making a living.