God, it's late. Or early. And just a bit hot.

But it's important to see that President Obama is now likely to have the 60 senate seats he needs to avoid Republican filibustering throttling his reforms.

Elsewhere on HPI, you should read the latest instalment of Maynard Doctrine, in which the good Professor looks at the choices facing a putative incoming Conservative administration.

Professor Alan Maynard OBE considers how a potential Conservative administration might go about dealing with the NHS. Integration, evidence, less PCTs and reforms to QOF (including a pay-related one for secondary care teams) all crop up – as do the possibility of public sector pay cuts.

The outcome of the 2010 general election remains very uncertain after the Labour meltdown and the Tories failing to take a significant lead in the recent June elections.

Nevertheless, the pundits all expect a Tory victory next year. If and when this transpires, what should they do with the NHS?

Good morning. This is being written from a break in rural France, where the weather has stopped doing the “I think it’s clearing up” thing and is doing the lovely summery sunshine thing. This is making me happy.

The latest Maynard Doctrine sees the irrepresssible Professor (who’d be silly enough to try to repress him?) get stuck into NICE rationing, and why more is needed in what David Nicholson refers to as “world-class decommissioning”.

Professor Alan Maynard OBE looks at the changes needed to make NICE’s rationing role more effective in an economically-challenged environment

The current economic and financial crisis will affect public expenditure for the next decade. Even if the Conservatives and the Labour parties seek to meet their pledges to maintain public funding of education and the NHS, it is doubtful whether they can maintain their promises, let alone increase the funding of these services as demand increases.

Good afternoon. A very quick post to point you towards an excellent piece in today's Times introducing the new body Straight Statistics.

The excellent Nigel Hawkes (formerly a journalist for The Times parish) is director of this new organisation, which aims to point out good practice in statistical use and to highlight abuse. Straight Statistics is going to be A Good Thing, and it deserves an unreserved welcome. Their website is http://straightstatistics.org

As the first Healthcare Innovation Expo opens today, this guest editorial from Mike Farrar, chief executive of NHS North West strategic health authority, discussest the importance of innovation.

The definition and the delivery of good healthcare are dynamic: they don’t stand still. What this means for the NHS is that innovation really matters - as Lord Darzi’s next-stage review and the duty to innovate in the NHS Constitution confirm.

A quick one, more later as workload does not abate.

Using evidence-based information and population health management to deliver high-quality care
Simon Stevens, UnitedHealth
“There are two clichés in the conversation at the moment:
1. The NHS is about to face significant fiscal crunch; and
2. There are 18 months to do something about it.

"The first is true, I’m not sure of the second.

Who’s driving?
I can never quite decide which is the worst mainline station in the country (the best is, of course, Marylebone). The field is so strong.

However, Euston is in with a shout. Airless and brutal, its Soviet charms are helped neither by the impressive, tube-strike-related queue for taxis nor by the cack-handed redevelopment of the booking hall.

Credit where it is due, though, the station pub’s staff were charming, helpful and made me a damn good cup of coffee. And their powerpoint actually supplied power.

Regular readers will know that we have been banging on about the impending financial problems for the NHS pretty much since this site launched, a year ago. It appears that this is a common theme for Day One of the NHS Confederation conference in Liverpool, which train strike permitting, I will be attending.