"Like a tree that's being pruned," he said, "they are taking the bad branches off".
Staff, which account for half of the NHS's costs, are being pruned, and services are now following.
In the name of "light-touch" regulation, existing rules governing care homes are being pruned and rationalised.
Pricey extras like grief therapy, organists to play "Ave Maria" or elaborate floral arrangements are being pruned.
The authors demonstrated in mice that, at five days after birth, synapses from RGCs to other neurons in the dLGN are being pruned at high levels.
Time Inc has been gradually trimmed back by Time Warner, including recent moves to shed 6% of its 8,000 global staff, prompting speculation it was being pruned ahead of a sale.
Some hotels are reacting to this by trimming non-essential spending; using potted plants as decorations, for example, instead of fresh flowers that have to be replaced every day.Just like flowers, servants are being pruned.
The result was a trip full of orienteering mishaps, but one in which we found ourselves totally immersed in the Italian countryside as olive trees and grapevines were being pruned and the smell of burning branches was in the air, a time when some of the only plants in flower are rosemary, pussy willows and the green-flowered hellebore.
Third, public services are being pruned and privatized.
"It's a problem here and everywhere," said Douglas Still, the chief city forester in Providence, R.I. "Pruning programs are being cut, not increased".
