Gerrymandering and the Pacemaker Clinics

Dr Informed would like to introduce you to the late Elbridge Gerry (above), a trailblazing pioneer of electoral fraud, whose actions spawned a new word; ‘Gerrrymandering’. This simple concept involves redrawing the boundaries on electoral districts to favour the people or party doing the ‘redrawing’.

Now, never let it be said that Britain, as the oldest parliamentary democracy in the world, plays second fiddle to the Americans when it comes to ‘new ideas in democratic experimentation’; we can be justly proud of our own Dame Shirley Porter. However, it appears that we can also include our current Government in this illustrious list. What is even more impressive is that they have eschewed the concept of simply redrawing maps or bribing voters, and are actively ‘managing’ the resources of the NHS in order to favour people who vote Labour, who by definition must be worthy souls – not like those nasty old Tory voting voluntary workers down at the WRVS. Dr Informed stands in bewildered awe at the brazen genius of it all, and the manner in which it firmly drives a wedge the size of John Prescott’s arse between the concepts of ‘what is RIGHT’, and ‘what is LEGAL’. In other words, there is nothing that anyone can do about it.

As regular readers will know, Dr Informed is quick to forgive the occasional blunder or one off transgression, but even his forgiving eyes have spotted what can only be described as a ‘trend’. One suspects that ‘old Labour’ would have simply sought to promote equality by impoverishing the middle classes, in this case by shutting their hospitals. However, the ultra-sophisticated New Labour also showers it’s voters with new PFI hospitals - a good old fashioned bribe if ever there was one!

So who is the modern day heir to Elbridge Gerry’s dubious throne? It would appear we have two: Patsy Fuckwit The ‘Rt Hon’ Patricia Hewitt and Rosie Winterton MP (Junior Health Minister), who is incidentally also a surprise new entry at number 5 on my ‘Top Establishment Heroes'® list.

Now Dr Informed is all for spending money on Health where the need exists, but it’s the nature of the people defining the need in this case that makes the whole sorry state of affairs smell like John Prescott’s arse.