ABSTRACT
Introduction Ideology affects not only what we seek to achieve, but also how we judge reality. While the former influence is obvious, the latter is not. It comes about through the questions we ask, the way we formulate problems, the analytical methods we adopt and the evidence we seek. By deciding to tackle an issue in a particular way, even those who believe themselves to be ideologically neutral may find themselves unwittingly working within an implicit ideological stance. The prob lem of optimising the public-private mix in healthcare is particularly vulnerable to this danger, as I shall argue here.
