Something else that Bob E pointed out to me...

... is that so-called think tank DEMOS will recommend anything you like if you are prepared to "fund their research".

The Guardian merrily rehashes the press release:

Last week the Campaign for Housing in Later Life was launched at a housing summit in Westminster to urge government to improve the housing choices for older people.

Esther Rantzen, the campaign's spokeswoman, addressed MPs and representatives from the housing industry and presented a report from the Demos think tank highlighting the chronic undersupply of appropriate retirement housing in Britain, which it calls, the "next big housing crisis".

Hmm, without looking, who do you think might have a vested interest in building loads of retirement homes, or at least getting planning permission for them?

Shall we have a sneaky peek at the acknowledgements in the DEMOS report..?

This report has benefited from the support, hard work and expertise of a huge number of people.

First, I would like to thank the members of the Home Builders Federation, whose generous funding made this research possible...

It all seems a bit mad until you know who paid for it

From The Independent (h/t Bob E):

Patients who exercise regularly and avoid fatty foods should go to the front of the queue for NHS operations, a think tank urges today.

People should be able to use supermarket bills and gym membership forms to prove they lead healthy lives and access priority non-emergency treatment, according to the centre-Left think-tank Demos. It also suggests that welfare claimants who exercise regularly should be given larger payments in recognition that they are behaving responsibly.

That all seems like the usual bansturbation, but the fun thing about Demos is that a lot of their more off the wall "research" is "generously supported by...". So let's look up the report, rather bizarrely titled Control Shift (yes we know you want to shift control, to yourselves, and it isn't funny):

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Marius Ostrowski and Katherine Stevenson for their contributions to this work – both were invaluable and I am very grateful. Also at Demos the advice, support and wisdom of David Goodhart, Claudia Wood, Duncan O’Leary, Ralph Scott, Sophie Duder, Josephine Brady and Rob Macpherson have been vital to this project. Thank you all.

This report is the final output of a long-running collaboration with Zurich [a large insurance company] – whose in-house experts have been generous with their time and insights.

And in case that wasn't clear, the foreword is co-written (or co-signed, at least) by the CEOs of Zurich UK General and Zurich UK Life.