Daniel Barenboim’s dispute with the Berlin government over funding of Barenboim’s Staatsoper has gotten out of hand. “Like the fracture lines of a smashed mirror, its ramifications have darted in every direction, raising sensitive questions about the way the arts are funded in Germany, about how much culture a reunified Berlin can afford, about the authenticity of German reunification and even about whether Barenboim, an Argentinian-born Jew, is the victim of an anti-semitic plot. At heart, though, it is a simple issue of conservation.” – The Guardian