The regional government of Wales has announced that it will be bypassing the UK’s Arts Council and taking over the fiscal management of all the major Welsh arts groups immediately. The change marks a dramatic shift in the way the arts are funded and managed in the UK, as politicians and bureaucrats will now have absolute authority over the affected groups, without the usual democratic council of experts acting as middleman. Strangely, no one in the Welsh arts community seems to be protesting too loudly.