● REFLECTING ON MY DECADES-LONG campaign to destroy opera in Britain, I have to admit in all modesty that it seems to be going rather well. And while everyone credits the Arts Council — and Nicholas Serota’s hommage to East Anglian iconoclast “Smasher” Dowsing certainly scores well for execution, if less for artistic impression — this scarcely gives due recognition to our great opera companies themselves, whose staunch work alienating their audiences and annoying the tits off of everyone else is finally paying off.
