Talking Round Corners

Slightly fascinated by a part of the exchange in PMQs this morning. Ed Miliband accused the Government of presiding over a rise in waiting list times. The PM responded by saying they'd gone down. Presumably there is some truth buried somewhere, but two things puzzled me. Firstly, Ed was trying to say that public sector reforms were not needed; why then did he want to suggest that the NHS was floundering? But secondly, David Cameron has not yet implemented any of his reforms on the NHS (except in a few pilot pockets that are unlikely to affect overall figures), so why does he wish to suggest that the NHS is doing well?

There must be some logic, but I fear logic has been superseded by the usual presumption that everyone else is fucking stupid and only understand "fire bad, tree pretty", or in this case Waiting List Up or Waiting Lists Down.