Founding purpose has been set aside

AT the end of February, the V&A Museum announced major cuts in response to the pandemic. It’s merely the most recent national museum to do so and its situation is grimly familiar (although its reserves are substantial). With an annual structural deficit of £10 million, the museum proposes that the library ‘remains a fundamental part of the V&A and the proposals would expand its remit and open it up to new audiences in the future’ is not clear.