Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum, has criticized the Scottish government for its treatment of Scottish Opera. ” ‘If a European country of the size of Scotland cannot support a musical life that encompasses an opera company, that is very serious. It would be ‘unimaginable’ for comparable countries such as Denmark not to have major orchestras, opera houses, ballet companies, as a central part of their national existence.’ Mr MacGregor said the fate of the opera company was not simply a matter of funding, but had elements of a Scottish Calvinist tradition in which music was not seen to be as important as literature.”