Quite astonishing but nonethless entirely unsurprising piece on McKinsey's role in guiding, structuring and writing Lansley's NHS Bill. It's not so much regulatory capture here as regulatory conquest: the whole service is being chopped up and offered round its clients like a tray of hors d'oevres. It should be said that the company got a lot of its forward operators in place under the last government. That was the reconnaissance. Now, the assault.

What I'm not clear about is why Cameron's put his political credibility on the line, not for ideological or populist reasons, but to ensure McKinely's bottom line. I think there's a general subtext here in that when the economy enters a long depression, securing lines of revenue from the taxpayer becomes a more important profit strategy for business.