Twizzler Redux

Having successfully kept the service on the road to becoming a business, and having ensured thereby that concerns with health will take second place to profiteering, Twizzler Lansley is now going for the national aspect of the NHS with his usual mix of bureaucratic effervescence and hobnailed zeal. Responding to the Bullingdon Club's orders that people in the country's poorer regions should have their spending power cut in order to keep things tidy, the Twizzler has come up with the charming phrase "market-facing pay". The idea, as usual, is to make the situation more amenable to the private sector, since that is what a national health service should be all about; the only exceptions to the rule, as usual, will be the managers appointed to impose the measures on staff. Oh, I nearly forgot: a senior Deputy Conservative has said that regional pay in the NHS is a "red-line issue" for the party, which presumably means that capitulation is scheduled for twenty-four hours after the local elections rather than the expected week or two.