Not only has Mark Britnell written a book, so too has the former Liberal Democrat MP for Yeovil David Laws.

Guest contributor The Masked Blogger casts an eye over a legislative fiasco

On Friday the NHS was finally laid to rest after the NHS (Re-reinstatement) Bill was adjourned till late April.

The junior doctors are on strike, again. Both sides look entrenched for the long haul. Both claim the moral high ground of patient safety and the public good.

Well, and well some more. The public, as surveyed by Ipsos MORI, seem to remain relatively supportive of the junior doctors.

Surprise, surprise: there are loads of vacant clinical jobs, while providers are finding their own workarounds for the agency staff cap/ban.

The latest version of the NHS staff survey shows a welcome improvement in the 'overall engagement' score.

"Over half of all staff (58%) report that they often or always look forward in going to work, with 74% of staff feeling enthusiastic about their job"

It is difficult to see what possessed the sensible and savvy Sir David Dalton to have recommended, or hinted at recommending, any endorsement for imposing the new contract for junior doctors.

Sir David took a reputational risk by agreeing to take over negotiations on behalf of NHS Employers - who were, let us remember, invented to take the heat off politicians and NHS leaders in the event of just such bitter contractual wrangles with critical groups of staff.

First, the dung: to the considerable surprise of absolutely nobody, the latest waiting time data shows that 18 weeks has officially been breached. Waiting dynamics expert Dr Rob Findlay has been consistently noting that this was inevitable for some time.

Dogs bark. Bears shit in the woods. And hogs whimper at some system leaders’ silliness as the money doesn’t magically stop being spent.

As I have previously observed, the doctots’ dispute is actually about pay, terms and conditions. There is nothing wrong with that.

Doctots are (for all the enjoyable nicknaming) mostly very hardworking, intelligent and dedicated people who do an awful lot of the work that happens in healthcare.

I'm loving the de-escalation of the junior doctors' contracts dispute.

No sooner has Sir David Dalton been drafted in to pour healing oil on the baby pool's troubled waters, than Jeremy Hunt threatens the 'nuclear option' of imposing the un-agreed contract.

Fingers crossed, yesterday's non-emergency junior doctors' strike has apparently passed without significant incident. There has clearly been minor silliness at Sandwell, but generally speaking, the planned consultant cover has gone safely and well.

The fact that this dispute about pay, terms and conditions has even got to the point of a strike should shame both sides.

Pay, terms and conditions