Gun laws are there to be respected, one would piously hope in the world of health policy.

Likewise those against self-mutilation.

Alas, they were vigorously flaunted today by Dame Jo Williams - outgoing (in the sense of exiting) chair of the Care Quality Commission.

She shot herself in both feet with her own evidence to the Commons Health Select Committee, in a bloody massacre that would have seen Sam Peckinpah applaud.

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Bit busy today, so please accept a redirect to this intriguing blog by Dr Pete Deveson, which investigates Health Minister Dr Daniel Poulter's claims to have worked 100-hour weeks since his becoming a junior doctor in 2006.

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I have written more than enough about Our Saviour And Liberator Andrew Lansley. The time has come to bid him adieu.

Leader of the House is an insulting demotion; there is no call to speak ill of the politically dead.

I have written too often of his anti-communication skills; remember "I'm sorry if what I'm setting out to do hasn't communicated itself" to the RCN Congress?

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In the words of Glenn Hoddle, "I've never made predictions and I never will".

Well, earlier today I had a go at suggesting why I thought Andrew Lansley would not be moved in the reshuffle.

More fool me?

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Today should mark the announcement of PM David Cameron's first Cabinet reshuffle.

Political geeks are duly excited. Cabinet ministers are duly nervous.

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Click here for details of The red ties that bind Comrade Sir David: postmodern NHSCB to commission itself (oh yeah, and what cowboy drafted this mandate?), the new issue of subscription-based Health Policy Intelligence.

There was once a Secretary of State for Health who dreamed that he was liberating the NHS.

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Click here for details of The red ties that bind Comrade Sir David: postmodern NHSCB to commission itself (oh yeah, and what cowboy drafted this mandate?), the new issue of subscription-based Health Policy Intelligence.

I didn't really have the Comrade In Chief down as a soul man, but NHS reform throws all sorts of surprises at us.

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Click here for details of The red ties that bind Comrade Sir David: postmodern NHSCB to commission itself (oh yeah, and what cowboy drafted this mandate?), the new issue of subscription-based Health Policy Intelligence.

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I turned to the OECD report on competition in hospitals with some trepidation.

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Click here for details of The red ties that bind Comrade Sir David: postmodern NHSCB to commission itself (oh yeah, and what cowboy drafted this mandate?), the new issue of subscription-based Health Policy Intelligence.

Below is the first few paragraphs of the latest issue of our subscription-based publication Health Policy Intelligence.

Subscription is £69 for 12 months, and funds the existence of this site. For details of how to subcribe, email editorial@healthpolicyinsight.com

The red ties that bind Comrade Sir David

Amid the NHS’s ongoing good performance on its main waiting time targets, analysed by the unmissable GooRoo here), it is at times easy to forget just how many staggering moments healthpolicyland has witnessed in shock and awe over recent years.

The DH's minutes of the latest accountability meeting between Secretary Of State For Health Andrew Lanlsey and NHS Commissioning Board Authority chair Professor Malcolm Grant and CE Sir David Nicholson have now been published.

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