Mere Legality

Part of the price of being visionary and radical and all those other jolly things is, of course, that one may be misunderstood and even hindered by persons who are rigid in their thinking, or who have a vested interest in the status quo, or who are simply too stupid or superannuated to know any better. Doubtless this explains why the House of Donors has joined with the health service bureaucracy, medical professionals, non-private patients and other inflexibly small-societal elements to suggest yet further alterations to Twizzler Lansley's anti-NHS bill. The Lords are worried that the Twizzler may be trying to squirm out of his constitutional responsibility for ensuring the provision of key services to NHS patients, despite the issue having been addressed, oh, ages ago: "While we respect the view of the committee," oozed a Department of Twizzlerisation spokesbeing, "things have moved on since it did its research and we have already addressed the issue raised." The Government has, in fact, promised to amend the bill, but the Lords committee's report shrewdly suggests that "it may well be necessary to amend the bill" in the actual universe as well as on the Cleggeron Pledge Planet, just in case of a misunderstanding.