Incentives can be useful things, sometimes. Why, Westmonster doesn't know how our army of child-labour office cleaners would manage without their daily 5pm treat of an episode of Danger Mouse. Public health minister Dawn Primarolo is all too aware of this (the importance of incentives, that is, not the… read more…

Upon hearing - after falling off a ferris wheel and shattering your face, knees and spine - that the paramedic coming to get you is en route in a 'rapid-response' vehicle, you may be forgiven for expecting some siren-whirring superhero to burst forth from the clouds on an NHS… read more…

You wouldn't exactly call the Labour government a shining beacon of harmonious unity, yet fresh comments from York MP Hugh Bayley must nevertheless come as a surprise to the higher echelons of the party - not to mention their no-doubt overworked public relations team. Labour has recently announced plans… read more…

In this hyper-exaggerated modern age, services and functions invariably have to get bigger, brighter and slicker. Hence why customers are deserting corner shops in favour of chain supermarkets, multi-level nightclubs generally attract more people on a Saturday night than the Dog And Duck, and Heathrow Terminal 5 turned out… read more…

Uh-oh. The BBC's actually done some decent reporting for a change, and has unearthed the fact that average waits on the NHS have gone UP under Labour, not down: Before Labour came to power in 1997 waits of more than 18 months were not uncommon, but now no-one waits longer… read more…

The National Audit Office's report on GP pay perfectly encapsulates Labour's problem with spending: more GPs, lower productivity, and some spectacular troughing by GP partners: In 2005-06 the annual average pay of a GP partner was £113,614, an increase of 58 per cent since 2002-03. GPs report, however, that over… read more…

Ah, the British Medical Association. Is it a union? A club? A whinge-chamber? And how does it continue to exist, given that its single historic achievement was a failed attempt to prevent the creation of the National Health Service, which we're continually told is Cherished By All Of Us? Now… read more…

The latest Discgate blunder is in! St Leonard's Hospital in Hackney has lost the personal details of 160 000 children. At least this one was encrypted. There are, however, fears that "the information could be enough for criminals to create fake identities." Two words: Canoe Man. He's done it before!… read more…

Jingle bells, jingle bells! Rejoice, for the Annual Panic over the yet-to-happen flu pandemic is in its early stages, which means that Christmas is juuust around the corner. From the Guardian: The health secretary, Alan Johnson, yesterday announced a dramatic increase in plans to combat pandemic flu, committing the government… read more…

The Government's sinister plan to turn Blighty into an Orwellian Police State (copyright, Henry Porter) continues apace as the details surrounding the latest and most destructive attack on The Liberties We Have Treasured Since The Magna Carta (copyright, as above) have come to light. Prepare yourselves, and try not to… read more…