Just What We Need

Public spending, as we know, is a Very Bad Thing, unless it happens to be spent bailing out the private sector; much as living beyond one's means is a Very Bad Thing unless one can scrounge a few million from the widows and orphans. Hence, the capital's latest blanched pachyderm looks all set to be inflicted on river-dwelling proles despite a £30 million hole in the budget. Thanks to the taxpayers' money already thrown at the project, the eventual result will be counted as private land, and will be a surveillance-rich, kite-free zone where gatherings "of any kind", musical instruments and exercises other than jogging will be instantly swooped upon by "visitor hosts", presumably clad in full, democratically-accountable Kevlar. The London Haystack, whose cable-car toy and freeze-and-boil buses have provided such merriment in the past, is in no doubt the private sector will come up with the goods; so that obviously settles that.