What I'm finding is that after the pasta has been combined with the sauce, it tends to want to stay as one blob. A fork isn't man enough.
Thanks for the suggestions, and for a change none have been expensive! I'll run them past the chancellor to ask her what I think.
I think you've got a pasta cooking problem - it sounds like it's turning into a sticky dry mess before you get the sauce onto it, and there's no recovery once that's happened.
If I were you, i'd experiment, and the best place to start is to cook your pasta in lots of heavily salted water (and I mean lots of water, I can't stand to see a small pan with pasta cooking in it), and to drain it when you think it's almost ready - the extra minute of draining and adding the sauce gets it to the right bite. The salt and lots of water tends to stop the pasta getting starchy and sticky, which is unpleasant.
I don't like those spoons with fingers, I think they are naff although saying that there's one in the kitchen because the missus bought it (honest!). Also, rigatoni is almost always the right choice, and you won't get your clumping problem unless you've really lost the plot!
Cesare