Lyn Gardner of the Guardian has taken on a line of argument seldom given the profile it deserves in the British arts funding debate, that the small scale infrastructure should be prioritized before the national flagships which can fend for themselves and generate other sources of income. Under the provocative title “why major theatre instititions should be left to die”, she puts the case for financing the fragile infrastructure of “grass roots” theatre rather than the major national institutions. The parallels in the music sector are clear, where funding is equally top-heavy, and where large numbers of active participants often ask what, if anything, the Romans have ever done for them.