Another victim of foot-dragging syndrome

Anyone who has ever tried to buy or sell a house will know how easily property deals can fall through. What is true of small houses is also true when huge corporations and developers lock horns.

So we should not be surprised that the superhospital plan appears to have fallen through.

The scheme was always hugely ambitious and dogged with controversy. Such uncertainties create delays, and given that government bureaucracies rarely move fast, it would be no surprise if these delays have proved terminal.

The developers are aware how the world has moved on. Since this project was first mooted, Paddington Basin has been transformed from a derelict, urban mess to an almost fashionable location for company HQs, including M&S and B&Q. So the remaining sites will be worth vastly more as offices than they ever would as a hospital. It may be brutal but it is the way of the commercial world, and if government bodies want to mix it with the private sector, they need to get more focused and fast-moving.

Some of the inevitable disappointment might rub off into disillusionment with PFI projects in general. This is not technically a PFI failure, but it is close enough to raise doubts.