Boris tweets about 'draft culture strategy'

A man who recently boasted of having read little but Latin and Greek for the past 25 years might not, you'd think, be the most active tweeter. But the Mayor of London has just used Twitter to ask his followers - that's 80,595 of them - to contribute to London's cultural strategy as the Olympics bear down on us. The full message is as follows: "What's important to you about arts and culture as we head to 2012? Want to hear from you!" And then there's a bit.ly link.

There's a link to the London Government website where, with rather more than 140 characters to play with, Boris Johnson says as follows: “As Mayor of London I want us to continue to be the greatest cultural capital of the world, a city that attracts millions of people from overseas and the rest of the country each year, but also, of course, one that Londoners find never-endingly stimulating, provocative and enjoyable.”

There are links on the page to a so-called "draft cultural strategy". The draft is presumably subject to changes arising from suggestions made to the Mayor's followers on Twitter. There is talk of "a step change" in cultural activity and participation, a project in which the Mayor was actively involved earlier this week when he was photographed (but for some reason not recorded) scraping a violin at a London primary school to promote instrumental learning.

Ominously, the statement "puts forward a case for its continued support and investment – particularly in the run-up to the 2012 Olympics". Results of the consultation will be published in late 2010. In the mean time, you can read the draft here.