Why do we turn our backs on the River Thames?

In Paris, the river is an integral part of its culture. In London, it is used for tower blocks

I first met Nicholas Serota in 1988 when he had just taken over as director of the Tate. I remember the conversation. It was not about the Tate's collection nor about any ambitions he might have to extend his Tate empire, but about the need for a pier on the Thames opposite the gallery in Millbank. Tate Modern was then not even a gleam in his expansionist eye. He just thought, as I did, that it would be both useful and pleasurable if people could arrive at what is now Tate Britain by boat.

Later this month a pier will open at Tate Britain. Its main purpose now, as we reported earlier this week, is to link the two Tate galleries, so that one can sail happily from J M W Turner to Tracey Emin, with the conceptualist installation of MPs taking tea on the terrace of the House of Commons en route. I have discovered more about the boat. It will be a state-of-the-art catamaran, its exterior boasting a design by Damien Hirst. It aims to be the fastest boat on the river, doing the journey from Tate Britain to Tate Modern in 18 minutes, including a stop at Waterloo Pier for the London Eye.

The link between the two galleries, will, I understand, be called Tate a Tate (who says Sir Nicholas doesn't have a sense of humour?), and it is a welcome addition to London. But a boat linking the Tate galleries is not enough. There is a lot more to the capital's riverside culture than the two Tates and the London Eye. Yet we remain woefully unimaginative when it comes to using the river as a cultural resource.

In such cities as Paris and Florence, the river is an integral part of the cultural experience. In London, there is no boat dedicated to linking the various cultural venues that are conveniently situated on the banks of the Thames. As well as the two Tates, there are the South Bank Centre, the National Theatre, the National Film Theatre, the Globe, the Courtauld Institute Galleries, Somerset House and the Design Museum.

You can bet your life that some of those venues would like to be included on the service that the Tate has arranged with a private river transport company. Maya Even, the deputy chairman of the South Bank Centre, is none too impressed that Tate a Tate will miss out the many cultural attractions at her own venues. She says: "London uses the river in the most appalling way. It just uses it for high-rise tower blocks. At the very least we need a boat that serves all the cultural venues on that stretch of the river. Arts institutions should be working together."

We are, it seems, still a long way from having a genuine culture boat that can take tourists and Londoners to a series of venues, with the service properly marketed. Once the Serota/Hirst boat is launched, that has to be the next objective. Arts institution should speak unto arts institution along the river and work in harmony to market themselves as a unified riverside cultural experience.

Not that transporting people to various venues is the only way the river can be a cultural attraction. Why do we not have annual arts festivals with concerts and dramatic performances at riverside locations? Why do we not light the river-bank more imaginatively? More than a decade ago the architect Richard Rogers and the then Labour arts spokesman Mark Fisher in their book A New London suggested "a nightly light show" from imaginatively lit buildings and stretches of riverside lighting, much of which has ceased to work. It would make, they said, "strings of illuminated pearls".

Part of the problem is, as ever, the lack of a single authority to turn the river into a cultural attraction. Individual boroughs tend to be responsible for what happens on their own sections of river-bank. But central government, Arts Council and Ken Livingstone could also learn from Sir Nicholas and start thinking how to make the river part of London's culture.

¿ X-2, the Hollywood fantasy based on a science-fiction comic strip, opens this weekend. Among its stars are Ian McKellen, Brian Cox and Patrick Stewart, all veterans of the Royal Shakespeare Company. It's good to see that American casting directors look to classically trained British actors to people the Hollywood blockbusters. Now all it needs is for the highly paid studio marketing executives to spell Sir Ian McKellen's name correctly on the ubiquitous official advertising. At the moment they are spelling it incorrectly.

¿ I confess to being stumped by a request from a Mr Mark McGowan, a student at the Camberwell College of Art in London. His letter to me says: "I am currently working towards my final degree show piece, which consists of me catapulting an old lady. I have a 22ft launchpad, a space capsule and a tarpaulined water landing area, now all I need is an elderly assistant." Thank goodness this is art. For a moment I thought it might be the latest project in the British space programme.

d.lister@independent.co.uk