Editor's Blog 14th October 2008: Yachting for health, and Michael Dixon outspoken

Hello. Today, we have a long and candid interview with NHS Alliance chair Dr Michael Dixon GP.  The Alliance conference is always fun and lively, and this year in Bournemouth there promises to be plenty of meat for discussion.

The 'Hull PCT buys yacht' story will not have escaped your attention (). I had a bit of a moment when I saw the story.

At one level, PCTs should do their own thing locally and invest in preventative measures to affect the determinants of health.

On the other, this is a classic case where the number of lives of the many poor people in Hull that can be altered by this use of £400,000 is certainly going to be too small to make this a smart idea. Not to mention the massive democratic deficit in Hull. It prompts questions about whether this is a hobby for PCT executives.

The other interesting point was the 'shitty hands' story as we enter the Norovirus season. All the reports I've read seem to miss the massively obvious point about the gender difference in the LSHTM team's findings. Women still change more nappies than men. The regional thing, however, has got me completely stumped.

Finally for today, the piece of news that was no news - doctors who don't like a system find a way to circumvent it. I know top-ups are a fashionable topic, but did this surprise anyone?