A couple of weeks ago, Computer Weekly magazine investigated the cost of the NHS's new IT programme. Hardly the kind of story that normally stokes the debates on Indymedia's newswire. And indeed it didn't - not a single story was posted on the subject.
Yet the corporate media showed only a little more interest - when subsequently it was confirmed that the Department of Health were indeed expecting a bill of £35-£40 billion.
And you thought Windows XP was a rip off? This sounds like serious cash for a bit of software, and indeed it is. Taking the lower estimate of £35 billion over the next ten years makes £3.5 billion a year. Or £10 million a day. Perhaps you prefer to be billed £400 grand an hour (maybe a hundred quid a second makes it easier to bear).
Now I know some high-flyers in IT, such as senior project managers, and they are charged out at around £200 per hour. So, doing our sums, we're talking about roughly 2,000 senior IT managers working continuously 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for ten years.

Sound like a dodgy deal for a few DOS batch files? It probably is. Just like the West Coast mainline upgrade, which might end up costing £8 billion. But is £40 billion going missing one of those things we furrow our collective brows over, or one of the greatest uninvestigated public spending scandals in history?