An intensely irritating fashion among politicians of all parties is to use the sound bite 'doing the right thing' to justify whatever action they have taken or propose to take. The phrase cleverly implies that if you do not agree with the action you are an immoral person – and no-one wants to be that. Taken to its logical conclusion, all we need are politicians who have some sixth sense that tells them what 'the right thing' is, and, hey presto, we can trust them to act on our behalf without any need for accountability. This is nothing short of dangerous brainwashing.