A “jewel” in national life – that is how MSP Angus Robertson described arts festivals last week, as he promised them additional funding. It was a faintly ironic moment, coming two months after Robertson said that public money could not replace corporate sponsorship, when partnerships between investment management company Baillie Gifford and nine literary festivals came to an end.
The Baillie Gifford sponsorships – which helped fund the Hay festival, Edinburgh international book festival and Cheltenham literature festival among others – ended after a campaign by Fossil Free Books (FFB) calling for the asset manager to divest from fossil-fuel companies and firms linked to Israel.
