Andrew O’Hagan wonders if competition is good for the arts. “We are addicted to the concept of winners and losers. Last week alone, I was asked to nominate the Best Top 10 British Bands, write something about the Top 100 Scottish Novels of All Time, and I attended a lavish awards ceremony, sponsored by The Daily Telegraph, to name several Great Britons. The assumption, not a bad one in itself, seems to be that life is more exciting the more rivalry it involves, as if competition was the food of endeavour. I’m not entirely sure that competition is good for art. There is the danger that it can create a uniformity of thought and aim.”