So, as I do every Thursday evening, I sat down to watch Question Time.

The primary highlight of the show was Andrew Landsley vs Dr. Phil Hammond on the NHS reform bills. – Or at least it should have been. The problem with the debate on the NHS reforms is that every politician out there insists that people should talk to Mr. Landsley if they want information, and if Mr. Landsley is talking on the matter, he spends his time insisting that 1) he’s listening to the opinions of other people and 2) the majority of a) GPs and b) the public support the reform – rather than answering questions.

The man is slipperier than a teflon eel. Most of the time when he avoided answering or addressing questions, people didn’t even notice he’d avoided the issue. He spoke for a good 15-20 minutes doruing the program, and at the end, nobody was an iota wiser for it.

The atmosphere in the room was hostile and wary, the biggest applause being for a woman who simply stood up and said “We don’t trust you, and you’re not answering our questions.” Dr. Phil argued that GPs were against any idea of introducing competition in the NHS, as giving different work to different groups ends up with some people inevitably falling through the cracks between fractured authorities. Mr. Landsley responded by saying that Dr. Hammond’s argument was irrelevant, and that GPs trusted him, ignoring entirely the fact that Dr. Hammond is a GP.

In short, I do worry about this bill. All that Landsley has managed to explain about it is that it’ll introduce “competition” which he insists will improve the service (and which everyone else seems to insist will be to its detriment.) – all that anyone else can say about the bill is that they don’t understand it, because it’s impossible to read.

Your views are welcome here. Mr. Landsley is my MP, so I might write to him with some questions, if anyone can think of good ones.