London doesn't need a Smithsonian – but how about Hull?

The US museum giant cannot compete with London’s world-class spaces – it should do a Guggenheim and build in England’s neglected north instead

Does London really need a branch of America’s vast multi-venue, multi-channel Smithsonian museum? Even the Smithsonian seems to be having second thoughts. It has been in talks to open a new venue at London’s former Olympic Park and was due to announce a decision this week, but it now wants to find out more about fundraising and the proposed new building before going ahead.

I think it should change course entirely. Of all cities in the world, London seems the most bizarrely inappropriate and ill-favoured for a mission of US cultural imperialism … sorry, I mean enlightenment. The Smithsonian should look at the Guggenheim Museum’s success in Europe and learn from that.

Related: Fit for McQueen? London's big three museums exhibit Victorian era values

Related: Museums are now part of Britain's pernicious north-south divide

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