However in line with the open government promised and then ignored, and in keeping with the general level of contempt that politicians now seemingly don’t feel the need to hide any more from the proles (electorate I believe we used to be called) any information on the costs, statergy or day to day running of the new Northern Rock bank which you would think that people might find useful or interesting will be kept from us by allowing the transfer to public ownership, nationalisation be exempt from the Freedom of Information Act.

Presumably, this is to protect us from having to tax our miniscule brains on the maths of tranferring £100bn (thats 100 with 9 zeros after it) of risk from the private sector into the public sector.

Maybe, the more cynical reason, is to ensure that you and I, who will now ultimately be paying the bills, are spared the anguish of learning how much we will be paying the bankers, consultants, analysts, accountants and public relations people to manage this mess.

Indeed, if I were to be even more uncharitable, I could suggest that the same people that will be paid to manage on our behalf and come up with some suitably whizzy plans to ‘offshore’ risk will probably be the same people who came up the previously suitably whizzy plans that eventually brought down the bank, and ensured that the private sector, who respond to markets and provide goods and services at a fraction of the cost of the public sector lest we forget, are bailed out, once again, by the stupid idiots kept in the dark, electorate.

All I say is that it would be in the public interest

Alistair Darling accused of Northern Rock Freedom of Information cover-up - Telegraph: “”

(Via .)

Alistair Darling accused of Northern Rock Freedom of Information cover-up - Telegraph