British Design 1948-2012: Innovation in the Modern Age, V&A review Finally, the story is brought into the present, demonstrating British innovation within post-industrial sectors such as advertising and computer programming. At this point, I must admit, my eyes started to glaze over: the fact that successful video games such as Tomb Raider and Grand Theft Auto have a British heritage is of limited interest, to me at least. Moreover, seeing so many commercial products clustered together (a vacuum cleaner by James Dyson; Jonathan Ive's colourful iMac G3) gives the final gallery the unwelcome air of a state-sponsored pavilion promoting contemporary British design at an overseas trade fair. Given that 2012 is the year of the Diamond Jubilee and the London Olympics, I suppose that an exhibition of this nature was always bound to be celebratory, a puff for creative British talent. Yes, we are brilliant at fashion and pop music, and, yes, Swinging London must have been an intoxicating place to live. But we knew this already. In general I could have done with less drum-beating and greater emphasis upon more difficult aspects of the past 60 years, such as the decline of Britain's fortunes as an imperial power, the impact of successive recessions upon artists and designers, and the lamentable disappearance of the great tradition of British manufacturing, which once earned this country a reputation as the "workshop of the world." In fairness, these elegiac subplots do feature in the detail of the show, but you have to look hard to find them. As a result, how much you enjoy British Design 1948-2012 will depend upon the intensity of your patriotism. From Sat until Aug 31.