Imagine, if you will, a government which believes that, rather than allow real debate to shape its policies, it can manipulate all levels of the administration from its cabinet, through all it's departments and right down to local government.

Now this government rules a democracy so it is very important that the democratic process appears to work normally. It will be necessary, therefore to influence all areas of any decision making process to make sure that the right result is obtained.

Now add a policy which happens to be universally reviled by the population. For example, lets take the incineration of waste.

Rather than listen to the electorate and find a viable alternative, the government dogmatically pursues that policy in the arrogant belief that it can manipulate the process and deceive people.

The first thing to do would be to suggest to  its local politicians that planning permission should be granted for incinerators. Normally such decisions are a free vote in their councils so quiet pressure will have to be brought to bear in order to ensure enough compliance. Not difficult, after all everyone has their price.

It would also be important to make sure that the apparent checks and balances in the system - there to reassure the public that they are being looked after -  agencies responsible for health and the environment, for instance,  are also properly influenced to produce favourable reports.

But, suppose people are much better informed than this government thought  and realise that they are not being told the truth. They would naturally get very angry and object, in their tens of thousands to incineration projects in all parts of the land.

The government finds itself being backed into a corner but no matter, they call  Public Inquiries, again to reassure the local populations. There is a difficulty, though: most opposition groups cannot afford the huge related costs to put up a full legal defence of their case whereas, of course the relevant industries can - especially with the promise of huge future profits.

Suddenly, there appears an opposition group that seems to be particularly well resourced. Outstanding experts and a strong legal team - these guys might have a chance to swing the debate their way.

But, if they win, their case could be cited by other groups and the incineration 'house of cards' might start to crumble.

This is obviously not acceptable to the government so  they couch the terms of reference  for the Inquiry to ensure that debate on the key areas that concern the population, for example, health,  is stifled.

As the Inquiry progresses, the local population are astonished at the weakness of the industrial case. Their barrister seems to resort to sarcasm surprisingly often - a sure sign of inadequacy and, most amazingly of all, they put up a discredited foreign health expert who, it seems, will not answer any question properly.

To compound the fantasy, the local health official is revealed as having completed a grossly inadequate analysis of the health risks, taking only data  derived from the applicant industry and choosing to ignore a vast range of independant scientific reports all suggesting that incineration has the long term potential for great harm. Shock as he is revealed also to be colluding with the company's  health expert.

The  locals are alarmed further as they see the Inspector cut off lines of questioning likely to reveal weaknesses in the industry health case.

The Inquiry concludes with one last anomaly: The Inspector  visits another of the company's plants to see a similar project in operation. Astonishingly on the day he visits, the relevant plant is shut down 'for maintenance'. Not to worry, though, he is able to glean what he needs anyway and does not reschedule his visit for a day when the plant will actually be running.

After months of waiting, a report is published approving the project. Health, it seems is not threatened at all in spite of mounting international evidence that this is not so. Emissions will be within limits - but the plant is not built yet so these limits must be the company's own estimates. That might be OK except for the fact this company is already one of the worst polluters of it's kind and has already demonstrated that it cannot work within statutory pollution levels at one of its other plants.

Finally, to soften the blow to the local population, now distraught, it is re-emphasised that this new plant will not be allowed to work without conforming to the standards set by the agency responsible for the environment which, guess what, is another government department.

All avenues covered, government and polluting industry live happily ever after.