Will the Real Artists Please Stand Up?

The Sunday Times News Review gave Tracey Emin half a page of oxygen on 10th June, which she used to reproduce her diary in the lead up to the Venice Biennale. The piece was dominated by a photograph of a smirking Emin with her unbuttoned blouse displaying a substantial décolletage supported by lacy bra. Not a pretty sight. The diary was little more than a list of 'my friends', who we now know include Jerry Hall, Damien Hirst, Mikhail Gorbachev, Naomi Campbell, Peter Blake (who, she reminds us, did the Sgt. Pepper album cover - yawn) and Elton John (named twice: once for each of the parties she met him at). She also took the opportunity to tell us all, again, that she was 13 when she started having sex, which was variously great, bad, violent and aggressive. What was the editor thinking about? What indeed were the British Council thinking about when they chose Emin to represent Britain? 'Can you party? OK, you're in.'