The economic crisis has stifled health policy debate for a week or two – including the regular updating of this summary – but with the worst of the emergency seemingly now over, we can look ahead to a more steady tumble into recession.

We are not going back to normal times, but instead entering a new period, what the BBC’s political editor Nick Robinson calls the politics of recession. After a fortnight we will never forget, where are we with health policy?

THE NEW POLITICAL SETTLEMENT IS STILL TAKING SHAPE

Hello. Today, we have a long and candid interview with NHS Alliance chair Dr Michael Dixon GP. The Alliance conference is always fun and lively, and this year in Bournemouth there promises to be plenty of meat for discussion.

The 'Hull PCT buys yacht' story will not have escaped your attention (). I had a bit of a moment when I saw the story.

Interview by Andy Cowper, editor,
Health Policy Insight

Michael Dixon is a man of many hats - GP, chair of NHS Alliance, medical politician, defender of alternative medicine, family man; but just as memorably, a man of many bow ties. The bow tie is not rare among medics - for infection control purposes, some say - but Dixon is almost unimaginable without his. It is literally impossible to imagine him in a T-shirt. Indeed, perhaps it’s where he acquired his ability to tie up loose ends in policy and point them back into the vital world of primary care.

Good morning. I hope this finds you well in our new socialist utopia.

What fun to own shares in banks! Presumably, this is sharing the proceeds of negative growth? Now, when do we start finding out about our year-end bonuses, and dropping heavy hints to the Revenue that we'll move abroad if they're not good enough?

Still, it has to be done.

Professor Alan Maynard considers the costs and benefits of new incentives for quality

After splurging billions of additional spending on the NHS, even the politicians have now begun to question the value for money of their generosity.

Sometimes, it isn't fun being right, but I did think the NHS was going to get hit by the Icelandic banking crisis.

We now know that two foundation trusts, the Christie cancer hospital in Manchester and Central and North-West London mental health trust, both banked reserves with Icelandic banks that are currently in administration.

You may not yet have heard of Dr. Christopher Ruhm, Jefferson-Pilot Excellence Professor of Economics at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA. I suspect his work will receive wider attention very soon.

"When the economy tanks, people are healthier but they may not necessarily be happier"

This prophecy thing is a bit worrying. I was being slightly tongue-in-cheek when I posted on Tuesday about the possibility of NHS institutions losing money in the Icelandic banking crash.

Well, the NHS is certainly going to be affected, because it looks as if local councils have taken a bath. This has obvious implications for social care, and joint working under the new joint strategic needs assessments.

In 27 days time, voters in the US will decide between Barack Obama and John McCain in an election that will have ramifications for the rest of the world. Drawing on recent analysis in the BMJ and this week’s Economist, this issue looks at the two candidates’ positions on healthcare, an issue that 44% of US voters place among their top three concerns.

Just come from the Wellcome Trust's fascinating exhibitions, and arrived to see the global financial turmoil cointinuing apace.

Just a very quick thought about IceSave - do you think any SHAs have put their money there?