I have just been to Sandy Nairne’s leaving party after twelve years at the helm of the NPG.   It was a wonderful event, saluting his many achievements:  the establishment of the Portrait Fund, the acquisition of the Van Dyck Self-Portrait, keeping the institution going in an era of cuts, extending the range of sitters, and doing some wonderful exhibitions, including, most recently, William Morris and Virginia Woolf.   Engagement not inspiration was how he described it.   It’s not bad to have a paean in free verse from the former poet laureate.