The Farepak swindle is a demonstration of our economic and political system at its purest. The rich steal from the poorest sector of society and it's all legal, nothing can be done. What's more nobody in the government wants to do anything. Apart from that prick McCartney, "Let's have a whipround, but let's not disturb the thieves while they're tallying up."
Blair stands up in Parliament and states the government's intent to ensure that this will never happen again. Later a spokesman interprets this statement. "It doesn't mean that the government is going to do anything."
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=414536&in_page_id=2

Statements in Parliament are no longer to be taken seriously, it seems. Margaret Beckett gets up and declares that British Forces will start pulling out of Iraq in the Spring. Later a government spokesman clarifies, "This doesn't mean that troops will be pulling out in the Spring."
Well of course not. I remember when John Profumo had to resign from the government for lying to Parliament - such quaint old customs.
The past is another country. I sometimes wonder if my presence in this one is legal.