NHS England has been run by a former Communist, and from today it is run by a former Labour councillor. Perhaps in our children’s children’s time, NHS England will be run by a former Lib Dem?

Anyway, Simon Stevens is a great hire. He runs the risk of inflated expectations leading to disappointment when miracles do not immediately ensue, which is a nice problem to have.

Here, to speed Simon on his way, are a few observations about the job.

Next week sees the arrival of Simon Stevens as NHS England's new chief executive.

HPI reisdent economics-and-everything guru Professor Alan Maynard has already offered Simon some advice, and very good it is too. I shall add to it on Monday, as doubtless shall the rest of the health policyverse.

But to truly re-enter the exciting online UK health policy debates, Simon needs a handle.

TOP SECRET
Briefing from Professor Nala Dranyam, Kroy University, People’s Republic of Yorkshire to the incoming Chief Executive of the NHS, Simon Stevens

TABLE MANNERS AT THE HEALTHCARE FEAST

Dear Comrade Simon

Welcome to the increasingly parsimonious healthcare feast. Following four years of austerity during which the NHS “ring fenced” budget has been raided twice to fund social care (£1bn in 2011-12 and planned £3bn in 2015-16), NHS activity and adherence to performance targets has survived quite well.

Health economist Professor Alan Maynard outlines the sanity deficits and supply-induced demand risks in current policy trends

Current NHS policy is founded on delusions about how the NHS is organised and how it can be improved. Have decision-makers gone mad or are they suffering ‘innovation’ diarrhoea induced by panic over austerity and continuous faith-based policymaking?

Is it too late to coin the phrase ‘Lansleyism’?

It’s not?

OK, then: the Care.Data fiasco is a near-perfect Lansleyism.

For starters, there’s a pause for six months. That always helps.

More obviously, here comes another technical solution that will revolutionise the NHS, where the communications to the professions and the public was so dramatically poor as to create significant and unanticipated uproar.

I know nostalgia isn’t what it used to be, but this 2010-12 retro is ridiculous.

Health policy via 18th-century philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau? Why not?

Yesterday, Health Service Journal carried a fascinating article flying a kite for the provider landscape to be reshaped into large chains.

Now here is An Interesting Things, brought to my attention by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, Labour's health lead in the House of Lords (Temporal And Spiritual, for ever and ever, Amen).

Lord Hunt's fellow-lord, Lord Rea asked Buttle Of Britain Earl Howe for various details on the costs of commissioning support units (CSUs, of course).

The Twittering Classes were fascinated to notice that NHS England's outgoing chief executive, Comrade Sir David Nicholson had joined the micro-blogging service.

The Comrade-In-Chief revealed that he is taking part in a Cambridge University Union debate on the motion that 'This House believes that the NHS should be privatised', which you will be unsurprised to hear he is opposing.

I appointed myself as NHS Chief Inspector Of Chief Inspectors last year, in the wake of the post-Francis appointments frenzy.

In this guest editorial, the genius of CSU Cassander is unleashed on solving the woes of the NHS through drone technology - by sheer coincidence, his new commercial sideline