Bad or thick?

Jeremy Hunt is very fond of highlighting the apparently poor prognosis of patients admitted to NHS hospitals at the weekend, and (mis)using this data to push his agenda. Those who work in the NHS however know full well that, because weekend admissions are disproportionately emergencies, that mortality is inevitably bound to be higher. A recently published study has confirmed that patients admitted at the weekend tend to be older and sicker than those in the week. This may seem like the bleedin' obvious but it's important to have factual data to refute Hunt.

So what do you suppose are the chances that Hunt will mention this study? I wouldn't hold your breath.

To my mind there can only be two possible reasons why he persists so tenaciously with his factually flawed pronouncements. The first is that he is deliberately mendacious and deceitful, and that he is pursuing his own agenda with a complete disregard for factual reality, and a staggering contempt for the intelligence of the medical profession, and the public. That is, he know's full well that he's wrong, and that we all know that he's wrong, but he just doesn't give a fuck.

The other possibility is that he really is pathologically stupid.