Today, the Royal College Of Nursing Annual Congress will debate a motion of no confidence in Secretary Of State For The Time Being Andrew Lansley.

He will not address the conference, choosing instead to listen to a carefully-screened 'respectful' group of nurses.

In A Streetcar Named Desire, tragic anti-heroine Blanche DuBois memorably exited to the line "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers".

I have seen a vote of confidence in Sectretary Of State For The Time Being Andrew Lansley's political future.

The Kings Fund, think-tank par excellence, is advertising his presence on 18 May at their NHS leadership summit.

They obviously don't foresee his Downfall, unlike the makers of this brilliant viral spoof taken from the movie Downfall. "I could do transport".

Truly, he is viral-prone.

NHS North West chief executive Mike Farrar has been appointed as the next chief executive of the NHS Confederation. He will replace acting CE Nigel Edwards later this summer.

It's a good choice. Mike is a smart person who can explain the NHS's shifting landscape clearly and comprehensibly. He's a personable and intelligent man, who will see that the Confederation's job in future is very much not what it was in the past.

There are to be less managers (who will be called "bureaucrats" more often by politicians); and the FT Network wants to go it alone.

Rumour reaches us from the RCN Congress that Secretary Of State For The Time Being Andrew Lansley will only meet 60 nurses who must be "respectful".

Yes, this is part of the 'listening exercise' during the pause.

Words almost fail me, although a few four-letter ones spring to mind.

Atomised respect and traditional respect

Following Our Saviour And Liberator Andrew Lansley's now-infamous 'empty bookcase' appearance on BBC Newsnight, entertaining and special Health Minister Simon Burns has sought to broaden his 'Dale Winton On Valium' appeal to a bibliophile demographic, with this 'look how many books I've got on my bookcase' appearance on BBC News this morning.

The RCN Congress can be relied upon to provide a bit of entertainment every year. By and large, the basic premise is that more, better-paid nurses are needed.

They are not necessarily wrong, as this US study finds. Nurse prescribing has been evaluated as broadly safe; and nurses deliver significant amounts of chronic disease management in primary care (making good money for GPs via the QOF). Nurses' important role in appropriate workforce substitution has been know for a good while now.

The Liberal Democrats take their party policymaking process seriously, as we see in the explosive intervention from Norman Lamb MP (Nick Clegg's consiglere and political adviser) on today's BBC Politics Show.

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Independent deputy political editor Nigel Morris has a funny little story about the DH leading the Whitehall pack.

Just not quite in the ideal manner.

He reports, "The biggest spender on greenery is Andrew Lansley’s Department of Health, which is seeking efficiency savings of £20bn from the NHS over the next four years. It paid £12,383.30 between May 2010 and this March for plants and trees for its 'core headquarters estate'."

Good morning.

I'm once again grateful to a friend of Health Policy Insight for transcribing Secretary Of State For The Time Being Andrew Lansley's appearance on BBC Newsnight, which appears below.

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