Rigoletto and the Automaton
(or Shaking up the NHS)

 I’ve always thought that the music for the opening chorus of Rigoletto foreshadowed the modern party political conference.  It is a piece about court sycophancy and conspiracy which says everything about political intrigue.  

There’s a long tradition of resetting opera to make satirical points.  Ned Sherrin and Alistair Beaton did it in the Kinnock and Thatcher era with the Metropolitan Mikado and the Ratepayer’s Iolanthe.  More recently Music Theatre London set the trend for pithy new translations which led to a resurgence of exciting new small scale opera productions.  But we seem to have lost the politics.

Rigoletto feels as if its authors had anticipated our most recent political incumbents – the powerful, confident stride of Blair the leader, imperiously parting the faithful as he strides with his sycophantic train to the dais.  And in the shadows the poison dwarf, reviled by the rest of the party, who will ultimately aid his leader’s downfall, played by Alistair Campbell.  I often thought there was great scope for a New Labour Rigoletto with that pair and possibly Prescott as a lumbering Sparafucile.  But the opportunity passed by.

However, when Andrew Lansley started putting forward his health reforms, with the Lib-Dems performing U-turns on a daily basis I realised that the music and story fitted the current administration just as well. 

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Switching and the Smart Energy Market

Back in 1776 Adam Smith made the observation that England is a Nation of Shopkeepers (although Napoleon usually gets the credit for the phrase).  If either were alive today they’d probably reconsider and point out that we’re now a nation of Switchers.  Nowhere is that more true than our attitude towards energy suppliers.  According to OFGEM, over 76% of us have switched our energy supplier in the last ten years.  Around 26% of us do it every year.

For some reason, we love switching.  Our favourite TV adverts are for comparison sites.  One – the advert for Compare the Market uses a family of animated meerkats which have become so popular they’ve spawned a range of merchandise.  Whether it’s insurance, energy, mobile phone plans, broadband or saving plans, we’re addicted.  And nowhere more so than with switching energy provider.

It’s not just the websites urging us to do that.  Government ministers keep on telling us that to get the best energy price we should switch suppliers.  Their message is not to use less energy – just change supplier.  And part of their plan for smart metering is to make it even easier to switch – as often as once a day.  It’s creating a very interesting dynamic for the industry, but one that is about to change.

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