Good morning from abroad. There is likely to be less frequent posting this week because I am on holiday, but one story in today's Guardian mea culpa piece by and with Damian McBride needs a bit of attention.

Good morning. Terence Kealey, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Buckingham (the UK’s only independent degree-awarding institution, where Karol Sikora is Dean of Medicine), writes in today’s Times about research that may lead to the development of specific antibiotics that could work effectively on MRSA and C Dificil.

Hurrah! Baron Mandelson of Foy has confirmed that public spending is going to have to be reduced.

Expect an announcement later today from the Prime Minister revealing cutting-edge research conclusions that bears do indeed shit in the woods.

So it has been confirmed that the good Lord Darzi is off up the road. Normally, ministers get 'kicked upstairs' to the Lords, but that was not really an option in Professor the Lord Ara Warkes Darzi of Denham's case.

The story was accurately called this afternoon by Sally Gainsbury of Health Service Journal.

More details have been made available over the leak this weekend of the NICE over-ride.

Good morning. The green paper on funding social care provision should be out shortly. What has been trailed in the press is that a figure of £12,000 per person will be proposed as an insurance payment against requiring full-time social care in old age, which will replace the current asset threshold of £23,500 before social care can be provided free (not to mention the eligibility criteria threshold lottery, which makes postcode prescribing look like a minor squabble).

The £12,000 may be paid up-front in lump; in stages; or deducted from any estate remaining after death.

The NHS has suffered its first swine flu fatality. Dr Michael Day, a GP in Bedfordshire, died in Luton Hospital this weekend. Though he tested positive for swine flu, it is not clear that the virus was the cause of his death. Nevertheless, after the first fatality with no underlying pathology, these will be nervous times for all NHS staff, and their family and friends.

Writing about the NHS IT project feels a bit like beating a two-year-old at chess: it's easy to make yourself look clever, but only in an unreasonable context.

This is a first: never before, outside of conference season, have I posted four times in one day.

Hello. Busy day, so just a couple of quick links here: the Audit Commission and Academy of Medical Royal Colleges have released a guide to money for medics. This comes on the back of Lord Darzi's recent suggestion that budgets could be devloved to clinical teams, and is well worth a read.