IN its short life, the Millennium Dome has already come to symbolise a great deal.

It was built at great expense amid much hype and huge expectation, and billed as the greatest show on earth. But it turned into a damp squib which lacked in substance and vision, and was more in tune with what its commercial sponsors were after than what the public wanted.

Some might cruelly say that this neatly encapsulates the spirit of the "New Labour" Government which brought it to life. And just like the Dome, which is nearly two-thirds of the way through its course, the Government has much to prove in the last third of its term in office if it is to match those initial expectations.

So the Government must be pleased - and relieved - that yesterday it successfully sold the Dome. Perhaps now its fortunes, too, will take a turn for the better.

When the Dome was conceived, it was supposed to show all that was the best of British at the turn of the millennium. Yet its most impressive structure - the roof - was built in America and when the content needed saving a Frenchman was called in. And when the Dome needed selling, it went to the Japanese whose investment bank, Nomurra, has provided the money and whose entertainment company, Sony, will provide the expertise.

One of the proposed future uses for the Dome was to be a showcase to celebrate all that was best in British television. But following yesterday's announcement, the new owners will call it Dome Europe and will turn it into "a showcase for all that Europe offers today".

Again, the Dome seems to symbolise much about the state of the nation.

Yet another of the Dome's original intentions was to show where Britain stood as it entered the new millennium, and in doing that it must be considered a great success.

We are no longer an island that can thrive on its own. We rely on money and expertise from Europe and the other great trading blocs of the world - America and Japan.

We have no alternative but to accept this, although we can still be proud that we have managed to be bring one national trait to the party: after the Japanese takeover, the only aspect of Englishness about the Dome will be its eccentricity.