Transparent Government

Twizzler Lansley's anti-NHS bill looks set to be protected from the Government's own assessment of the risks involved in implementing it. The Department for Health Privatisation has argued that publication of the risk register would undermine the Government's ability to assess the risks of pursuing particular policies, since risk assessments tend to be a bit pessimistic when policies are so wonderful that their virtues can be appreciated only by Twizzler Lansley and assorted profiteers. The British Medical Association, the Royal College of Nursing, Lord Owen and, hilariously enough, the Labour party, have argued that the register should be released so that the Lords can have an informed debate. The information commissioner and the information rights tribunal have agreed with them, but the Government has twenty-eight days to appeal and the anti-NHS bill is scheduled to pass in less than two weeks. In keeping with his transparency agenda and the further humiliation of the Deputy Conservatives, Daveybloke may invoke a cabinet veto to prevent publication, something notably done by the Reverend Blair with regard to his legal advice about the Iraq adventure. Then again, the Government might choose to publish the register after the bill has been passed, in keeping with the famous Bullingdon spirit which is trying to privatise the police even as the Leveson inquiry continues to uncover the consequences of News International's having done precisely that.