The Middle-Class Rip Off is an episode of the great British satire Yes Minister, where Humphrey Appleby excoriates his minister Jim Hacker, for suggesting that the British government spent too much on the arts to the benefit of a few. In a prophetic exchange Hacker, suggests reorienting funds towards sports and away from the arts.

Sir Humphrey: What would happen to the royal opera house on such a basis, the very summit of our cultural achievement?

Hacker: The royal opera house a very good case in point and what do they do? Mozart, Wagner, Verdi, Puccini.