A Sorry Effort

The Government has apologised over the thalidomide affair - or, in Standard English, it has trotted out a health privatisation spokesbeing with a mealy-mouthed expression of "regret and deep sympathy" plastered horribly over his press release, and then relied upon the media faithful to fill in any necessary contrition. The Government has also announced a compensation package which will be administered by the Thalidomide Trust and will be used for "adaptions and other preventative measures that are likely to reduce long-term demands on the NHS", since obviously one has to have some sort of excuse for spending public money on helping the disabled. At least the Government can hope for an extra four hundred and sixty-six votes, assuming the beneficiaries are forgiving enough to forget the fifty years which this and previous administrations have spent waiting for them to die quietly.