A week ago, or there abouts, it was announced that Doctors would be tested to ensure they could keep practising medicine. For one reason or another very few picked up on this story which surprises me given a) how long it's been in coming and what a progressive step it is and b) the precedent it sets for other aspects of life. Chiefly I'm talking about driving of course but with the assumption rightfully being on ability to do the job now rather than when you were in your early 20's it's a big door to leave open.

But importantly it doesn't span the whole sector, with nurses/paramedics remaining able to degrade in standards of care, as will dentists. It seems that only half the job is done, in my eyes, if those providing the first response and surveillance to our health screw up then it doesn't matter how often doctors are assessed for their competence.

Probably not safe for work, here is our third effort. As always we welcome comments on the style and content in an effort to improve! Transcript below...

Second of a trilogy of posts here today about Labour governance, I just want to assure anyone reading this that I am not inherently anti-Labour, just anti-pointless and stupid policy decision making. It just so happens that Labour are trumping the market on that kind of news recently. This particular subject is about the missing-the-point-by-a-mile talk by Alan Johnson about adding fluoride to our water system to improve dental health.

This isn't a tinfoil hat reaction, I don't really buy in to the idea that adding more of this kind of stuff will detriment our health and most evidence is to the contrary of that view. In fact I don't necessarily disagree with the proposals in question, I just wonder what the point of them is given the state of dentistry in this country