Good evening, and happy new interest rate. Refinancing your PFI deals?

Today we have an exclusive interview with Matthew Swindells, who within a few years has gone from NHS manager to ministerial policy special adviser to MD of health for Tribal Group. In it, he is candid and frank, leaving no punches unpulled - and you can read it here: www.healthpolicyinsight.com/?q=node/259

Enjoy it. Matthew will also be coming on board as a new columnist for Health Policy Insight.

Good evening. I hope you're well and not coming down with a cold (which I am - a delayed reaction to the death of John Martyn. What with him and Patrick McGoohan going, it's not been a good couple of weeks for libertarian mavericks).

Obama’s hopes on health Daschle’d
With Tom Daschle’s withdrawal from the Presidential nomination for the health post in the new US administration, it seems that President Obama’s ability to walk on political water has hit thin ice. The best laid plans … see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7868303.stm

Hello, and I hope the snow isn’t affecting you too adversely.

Today we have new Maynard Doctrine - www.healthpolicyinsight.com/?q=node/255 for you - please be warned, it is not optimistic at all.

Today we also have new Health Policy Today from Tom Smith - www.healthpolicyinsight.com/?q=node/256 - which is somewhat optimistic, and wide-ranging.

Hello. I hope you're well.

It’s all a bit hectic just now, so more considered pieces on the NHS Constitution and on the IT programme review and the AfC NAO report will - like the Number 19 bus - be along shortly.

So, as they say in the trade, this is just a quick one.

We start with some much-needed levity and good news. First up today is an admissions of wrongdoing, coming (topically enough) from the House of Lords on the serious subject of ‘cello scrotum’ - www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/338/jan27_4/b288?ijkey=a1e687b5aa7895143...

The laws of economic gravity are like hemlines: in and out of fashion. BBC News has another leak from the Conservative Party (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7847933.stm) that the credit crunch might affect future NHS PFI schemes.

No shit, Sherlock. You mean banks aren't lending money to people?

This guest editorial from Helen Disney, director of the Stockholm Network, considers the likely impact of the EU’s new six-month Czech Presidency

Despite not being a ‘core competency’ of the European Union, health policy has nevertheless risen up the political agenda in Brussels in the last few years. So, as we kick off a new six-month period, with the EU Presidency being overseen by the Czech Republic, what is on the cards when it comes to healthcare?

Good morning. We have new Health Policy Today from Tom Smith (www.healthpolicyinsight.com/?q=node/248), and I hope to write a longer instalment later today, but for now, a brief message.

Please cross your fingers (or whatever you do to bring good luck and success) today for Professor Martin Elliott of Great Ormond Street Hospital and for Ben Bowman and family.

I am officially not happy about Blue Monday.

Not the New Order song, which I like very much. No, the media bullshit Blue Monday.

According to BBC News in 2005, the most depressing day of the year is 24th January. They cited "Dr Cliff Arnalls" - but mis-spelled his surname, which is Arnall. A minor error - I'm a typo monarch myself.

Not that I want to seem didactic or anything, but you need to go here - http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/NEJMsa0810119 - and read it. You can get the checklist here - www.who.int/patientsafety/safesurgery/tools_resources/SSSL_Checklist_fin...

Atul Gawande, author of the phenomenally good Better: a surgeon's notes on performance (www.amazon.co.uk/Better-Surgeons-Performance-Atul-Gawande/dp/1861976577/...), has been involved with this project.

Good morning. You will probably already have seen the DH’s new Transforming community services: enabling new patterns of provision (www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPoli...), which emphasises “quality and enabling transformational change”.