Conservatives are being criticised for not agreeing a consensus approach on care for the elderly and the proposed high speed rail line to Birmingham - not least in a biased "report" on the Radio 4 6pm news.
The Tories wouldn't appear on Newsnight last night to debate the rail line. Paxman went through the motions of being brusque with Lord Adonis but didn't think on his feet. The Tories had been involved in the process so far, said Adonis, and when the government published its proposals in the next few weeks it would lay out its choice of route, which the Tories would not have been committed to.
So how was the Tories' withdrawal from the process at this stage slowing it down? All Adonis could come up with was that it halted agreement on the 'general principles', bur he was never asked for an example of what these general principles were, so we were left in the dark. Lazy Paxman.
Why should these 'general principles' be decided out of our sight, behind closed doors?
As with rail lines, so with care for the elderly. Dame Jokewell, and those like her who know better than the rest of us, think that the great and the good should sit in conclave and then announce to the world how such care should be funded. Vulgar debate could distress the elderly, don't ya know, and lead to unseemly disagreement - and possibly even political differences!
Imagine! How much better for us to slump on our sofas watching government television advertisements exhorting us to take more exercise, while politicians and shadowy charities conspire to decide what would be best for us and most convenient for them.
Excuse me! Whose money is it, again? Why shouldn't we have a voice?
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