Whilst there’s only room for one Diva on this blog – Maria Callas aside – I feel compelled to conjure the saccharine sweet image of a certain M Carey as the year draws to a close.
No, not for her warbly rollercoaster range (which is impressive if you like that sort of thing) but for her annual “classic” that is probably plaguing your wireless as we speak or if you have dared to venture out into the streets for any last minute Christmas shopping.
That’s because right now, just like thousands of people across the UK, “All I Want For Christmas” is for HMRC to answer the phone!
Trust me, if this is a challenge for me right now, it may become a task of Herculean proportions for you if you try and get through in January as the deadline creeps ever closer.
This is even when I have the accountant equivalent of the “Bat Phone” which enables me to cut through the queues as a professional representative, purely because I can assist 10s of clients in one call vs the myriad one-to-ones that Joe and Jane Public will be focused on when they call.
So you have been warned!
I get it, they are busy and probably not helped by the recent announcement about “foreign” workers.
In case you missed that, there has been an announcement of a rise in the salary threshold for foreign workers visas to cut immigration.
In a lovely little Christmas message, the interior minister James Scrooge (sorry Cleverly) told parliament the minimum salary a skilled foreign worker needs to earn to get a visa would be significantly increased to about 38,000 pounds, up from its current 26,200 pounds currently!
Just a casual £10k rise then!
I wonder how many performers will be able to just rustle that up!
It does make me fear for the industry at a time when we see the ENO and the Northern Ballet making cuts, tweaks, chops and changes to personnel, structure, fees and plans.
So I am on a mission to find greater certainty on this, which I will report back on.
Mariah once called for a “Hero” to come along, right now, we just need someone to answer the phone, Batman need not apply!
