Members of the troubled English National Opera – threatened by layoffs – have some hope that their fortunes will improve. “Their cause is further boosted by the company’s comic inability to communicate information in a timely, orderly and credible fashion. Statements are sent out and swiftly recalled; press briefings verge on the farcical. The verifiable fact that ENO is living beyond sustainable means is lost in transmission.” But will striking save company jobs? No, writes Norman Lebrecht, “the grim truth about strikes in the arts: they never work.”