Just as ENO's staggering losses have emerged, it has been revealed that the Arts Council are taking a look at "new models that would enable opera and ballet to continue to thrive."
Or, reading between the lines, how they can slash opera and ballet funding without killing the artforms outright.
The review is at an early stage, and a formal report is due in late spring.
A Guardian article by Charlotte Higgins provides a reasonably balanced picture of the issues, but bear in mind while reading it that ENO's drop in public funding last year was matched by an equivalent rise in private funding, and her assertion that "artistically, the 2011-12 ENO programme was judged a success" seems to be missing a 'not'.
