Dole’s presidential aspirations seemed to have ended in 1988 back when Yugoslavia was still a

Dole’s presidential aspirations seemed to have ended in 1988, back when Yugoslavia was still a single country and his second challenge for the Republican nomination ended in angry defeat at the hands of George Bush. Supporters say he has mellowed now, that the infamous Dole tongue is less biting and his temper fitted with a longer fuse.Far more important, however, the Republicans believe in hierarchy and the virtues of primogeniture With Reagan and Bush gone, it is the turn of Bob Dole. And Bosnia has become a metaphor for Mr Dole’s quest for the White House.
Such are the strange couplings of destiny. Now he watches and waits for Mr Clinton and the West to deliver. Bob Dole has become the keeper of his country’s conscience over Bosnia. This week only an appeal from the White House persuaded him to postpone a US Senate vote that would have lifted the United Nations arms embargo and scuttled the entire UN mission, exactly as Bob Dole believes it should be. The man who may next year be elected the oldest President of the United States today turns 72.

But for all his eminence, the representatives of the great Western powers gathered in London will not have raised a celebratory glass to the Majority Leader of the United States Senate, as they sought a policy on Bosnia For Bob Dole is among the authors of their miseries. If some of those millions went to that end, who could object to a redevelopment programme for an opera house that was not only a great institution with cherished traditions, but also a people’s palace?. Hence ticket prices always end up rising to make up the difference. Ticket prices are the last thing to be addressed when everything else is sorted.But what if they were, instead, the first thing? What if seat prices were considered top priority, the most crucial part of running the company, and subject to an earmarked grant? There would probably have to be fewer productions, and fewer improvements to the decor and furnishings, but with the promise of low seat prices, would the public really object?Another thought: not a penny of lottery money goes towards keeping seat prices low. Currently, the big companies get their annual grants when their artistic programmes are already in place and cannot be tampered with.

So they have to balance their budgets with self-generated income, of which the most obvious part is the box-office receipts. For too many people, the thought of charging that much for three hours of opera is at best decadent, at worst obscene. The Royal Opera House has been to slow to sense this distaste.There is another way. They might not choose to come, but they would like at least to have that choice.Second, and terribly important, there is a public distaste at pounds 100 and pounds 200 being charged for an evening’s entertainment in a publicly funded institution.