Recent scientific experiments have proved it is possible to train computers to discern and judge the quality of various musical genres. This could herald the dawn of a brave, and possibly happier, new world, in which there would be slightly less need for Simon Cowell.

But government has re-learned the expensive lesson – in the wake of the late 1990s ‘dot com' boom – that optimistic promises forged in the white heat of technology will invariably burn budgets, reputations and public trust.