I had an animated discussion with a friend from the big end of the finance sector recently about the value to society of art and culture. In short, he argued that ‘value’ only existed (and therefore should only be supported) if the value can be put into economic or dollar terms, and the value outweighed the cost. This is an issue economists have been arguing over for years, with little agreement. I argued back to my friend that the value was intrinsic and not easily able to