Our friend Jayne died today. She was looked after with dignity and respect in critical care at the Whittington, and now the explicit grieving can begin.

There are words, but there aren't the right words.

Goodnight. Goodbye. Sweet dreams. Bon voyage.

We'll miss you, Jayne.

Regular readers of Health Policy Insight will be familiar with our longstanding campaign to see him replace Mr Lansley as Secretary Of State For Health, which has its own Twitter hashtag: #SimonBurns4SOS.

Scandalously, Irwin Brown of the Socialist Health Association has dared to disparage a ‘ten reasons why we need legislation’ piece by The Legendary #SimonBurns4SOS.

PM Cameron: Andrew Lansley and I are “as one”; DPM Clegg: “Andrew Lansley right man for the job”; Baroness Williams: drop Section 3 of Bill
Sub-heading finds itself unable to live up to headlines; exits to join French Foreign Legion

I honestly don’t know how you write down the phonetic sound of uncontrolled, slightly hysterical laughter. It's probably for the best, given recent events.

I doff my hat to Baroness Williams: she keeps a mean poker face.

This article for The Guardian may or may not be trying to fill an inside royal flush; it may or may not be a busted flush.

Time - and Lib Dem peers, who have (thus far) proven very loyal to the Coalition - will tell.

Something about the HSJ / Reform piece by Andrew Lansley (saviour, liberator) published today has been nagging at me.

It's something other than the confused reasoning.

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Click here for details of 'PM Cameron - Mr Lansley's "as one" or assassin?', the new issue of subscription-based Health Policy Intelligence.

The first time I started skimming the HSJ / Reform piece by Health Secretary Andrew Lansley (saviour, liberator), I got as far as the line "without health, we have nothing", and stopped.

Scanning very quickly for 'God is love', 'it's nice to be nice' and 'please adjust your dress before leaving' (because cliches should always travel in groups of four), I treated myself to a pause. It seemed topical.

An extremely interesting paper in The Lancet by Professor Nick Black suggests that the much-discussed decline in NHS productivity since the 2000 funding increases is, not to put too fine a point on it, not the case.

This matters hugely, as declining productivity is one of the key stated reasons behind the Health and Social Care Bill.

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If I'm reluctant to use the phrase 'game-changing', it's because the Health And Social Care Bill started off playing football; then went to Australian Rules rugby; had an interval 'pause' scripted by Harold Pinter; and then took up hurling using golf balls and squash raquets. (And we can shortly expect 'ping-pong'.)

It's definitely not been cricket.

The Health And Social Care Bill now looks more likely to be put out of its misery than it ever has before.

The Bill has struggled to buy a friend, and been the subject of perhaps more negative discussion than any legislation since the Community Charge - better known as the Poll Tax.

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Click here for details of 'PM Cameron - Mr Lansley's "as one" or assassin?', the new issue of subscription-based Health Policy Intelligence.

'Oops" has become a key word for the travails of the Health Bill. Yesterday saw an unwelcome oops moment when a symbolic amendment inserting the wording "physical and mental" meant that Labour won its first vote on the Bill.

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Click here for details of 'PM Cameron - Mr Lansley's "as one" or assassin?', the new issue of subscription-based Health Policy Intelligence.