Letter: The Arts should look to themselves for salvation

TO SUGGEST that any point of view opposed to public spending and subsidy to the arts is "Philistine" aligns your newspaper with the tiny minority of people who wish to benefit personally from such funding, either as spectators or highly paid participants ("Save the Arts", Section 2, 8 February).In the same edition you run the sad story of Moseley Rugby Football Club, one of the most renowned in England, which is threatened with imminent extinction ("Tears and fears of twelve angry men", Sport). Moseley is every bit as important a part of our cultural life as an orchestra or an opera company and yet you nor anyone else would dare tosuggest public funding to bale it out.

Moseley are victims of bad management decisions and a lack of mass support from paying customers. They have paid players too much and the effect of market forces could be their demise. All we Philistines are suggesting is that similar criteria should apply to the arts which should look to themselves, their management and how much they pay themselves for the solutions to their problems and not expect the taxpaying majority to subsidise the few.

N A Hicks

Maidstone, Kent