No Fairy Godmother @ No 10!!

Today was always going to be a big day @ No 10. Once upon a time, a very long time ago when the land was flowing with milk and honey, a certain silver fox called Andrew Lansley gave many a promise to his Lord and Master, our very own Boy David! He swore that the new Health reforms that he had so studiously perused, for many a long year, would pass muster in the Commons. They would bring wealth and joy to the Tory Party and great fame to Boy David himself!

That was the story, my friends. And if you believe that, you'll believe anything! For Mr Lansley did not know his scalpel from his stethoscope! No indeed! He did not know his private, competitive health service from the much loved NHS! So, instead of bringing joy, fame and wealth to our Boy David and the Party - he sowed disharmony, recrimination, fear and loathing throughout the land! More like a horror story than a jolly fairy tale, I'm sure you would agree.

Today, my friends, the crunch was crunched - the birds came home to roost - the rolling stone ... you get the picture! Today, in the Commons, the results of the 'pause and listen' exercise bore fruit.

And what was the result? A veritable 'dog's breakfast' and a 'dog's dinner' was the outcome. (Notice - cats do not feature in this mess!!)

Commentators have waxed eloquent about it. Here are some of them:

NHS reforms: 'They didn't pause and they didn't listen.' Laura Oliver 'The Guardian'

NHS shakeup review leaves big questions unanswered : 'Critical issues such as how to ensure quality of care and stop private hospitals cherry-picking patients are ignored in the report.' Christina McAnea 'The Guardian'

'David Cameron faces Tory mutiny as gloating Lib Dems claim victory on health reforms'
By James Groves, Political Correspondent of the 'Daily Mail'.

Of course the Tory press have rather different headlines :

'David Cameron has announced significant changes to the Government’s health reforms but insisted he had not made a “humiliating u-turn'. Martin Beckford, Health Correspondent of 'The Daily Telegraph'

But even that headline will not give our Boy David much joy! I feel sorry for him! Wailing Lad Clegg is doing his level best to show he is a 'real force' in the Coalition. He claims that the LibDems have rather 'forced' the near destruction of the NHS planned reforms.

However, as a mere under stairs cat, I have heard that the NHS has been rendered even more on the brink by the proposed changes. Some staff have already lost their jobs. Administrators are not there to 'administrate'. Many hospital departments are in disarray and still the private health clinics and companies are rubbing their hands together in anticipation of the gold to come.

So - all in all - it's a right old mess! No one has won and everyone has lost! That includes many patients who no longer know whether they are coming or going.

So - the little story that began like a magical fairy tale with Lansley as the Fairy Godmother has ended like a Norse Saga with black clouds lowering in the sky and Thor's thunderbolts cascading down on all and sundry!

Luckily, Arturo and I are cats and we still have the Blue Cross, the PDSA and the RSPCA. So, we're okay!