Much is being made of the disparity in acquisition budgets between UK museums and those in continental Europe and the U.S. But some in the UK arts world say that what’s of greater concern than the raw budget numbers is the value system used to judge which art is worth acquiring. “Is an Italian painting that was obtained by a British milord in the 19th century an integral part of ‘British heritage’? It is part of the history of British collecting, but that is not the same thing.”