Lo, we146;re wising up!

Dumbing down has become one of those phrases that is so widespread that we accept it as a fact of life. And we8217;re right to, as this is a phenomenon that evidently exists. There are millions of people not reading books or even paid-for newspapers, watching junk television, failing not very difficult exams or collecting what look like cheap A grades, and using the might of Google to find out the latest news on Britney Spears.

Terse, alliterative and memorable, dumbing down is a good label 8212; in fact too good, as it has ended up dazzling us. It has fooled us into seeing intellectual standards as a one-way street, heading downhill. But this is a one-eyed, Grumpy Old Men view of what is really going on. A more accurate picture would show a two-way street with heavy traffic on both sides. There is plenty of evidence of the opposite of dumbing down: wising up. Our appetite for culture is growing. Last week Malcolm Gladwell, a successful journalist and author but hardly a household name, gave a pair of talks at a West End theatre to promote his new book. He charged up to pound;25 for tickets and sold out. A writer was being treated like a rock star.

At the Arts Council, they keep count of the number of literary festivals in Britain: in October 2008 alone, there were 43. Hay-on-Wye expects to sell 165,000 tickets next year. At the first Hay festival, 20 years ago, that figure was 2,000. The great museums are packing them in like sports grounds8230;Tate Modern with 5.2 million, the British Museum with 4.8 million, and the National Gallery with 4.1 million.

From a comment by Tim de Lisle in 8216;The Times8217;, London