Op-Ed: Fat cats prosper under Cameron's austerity

Heard the one about the transport minister who claimed train fares are not too high? They aren't for him, because the taxpayer picks up the tab.

This story was reported by a number of tabloids over the weekend. The Mirror published a photograph of a happy looking Norman Baker aboard a train. One person who isn't smiling is Louise Ellman MP. Unfortunately, like angry commuters all she can do is sound off about it. Perhaps she and Nick Clegg can get their heads together and work something out? If commuters are sick of being ripped off, a lot of people are genuinely sick, or need hospital treatment for some other reason, at Lewisham or Ealing or somewhere else. Unfortunately, these are now under threat. The Coalition Government has set up an administrator to swing the axe - there is no politer way of putting it. If David Cameron wants to save some more money, he could start by sacking the entire press office, because the people staffing it are apparently unable to respond to a simple query. One might also question the wisdom of setting up a quango at a cost of over half a billion pounds a year to reorganise the running of the National Health Service at the same time services are being cut. That is the price tag put on it according to one estimate.