John Carey’s new book “What Good are the Arts?” argues that the majority should not have to pay for the entertainment of the educated minority. “What, he explains, really gets him about Covent Garden, is the ‘luxury’ of it. He also feels it’s wrong that the majority should pay for the pleasures of the educated minority. When there is no way of proving that so-called great art has any transcendental value, Carey feels, it is hard to argue that it should be made available at the tax-payer’s expense, as in his view it offers no demonstrable moral or spiritual benefits to society. This even leads him to question the state subsidy that makes the National Gallery entrance free of charge.”