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Editor's blog 7th November 2008: new Commissioning Health, Labour win Glenrothes and reporting inequalities

Good morning, and welcome to the weekend's welcome approach.

First today, the new Autumn-Winter issue of Commissioning Health is now online at www.commissioninghealth.com

I hope you'll enjoy it (and indeed the previous three issues, also archived there. With support from Bupa and NHS Alliance, Commissioning Health aims to promote thought and debate about how - and indeed whether - commissioning is developing in the UK.

Next comes the win in the Glenrothes by-election - Labour turning the tide after losing several by-elections on the bounce. It would be ridiculously premature to see this as anything more than a small improvement in Labour's fortunes.

Much of the electoral discontent with the SNP appears to have centred on local disappointment with the the SNP-led local council's activities (and the nationalists also enjoyed a swing towards them).

Moreover, recessions are not likely to bring wild popularity to a long-incumbent Government and a PM who was previously Chancellor for a decade.

Nevertheless, as any gambler will tell you, the first step towards a turnaround is to stop losing. One by-election win in a Labour heartland adjacent to Gordon Brown's own constituency does not in itself mean anything about the likely outcome of the next general election. It changes the mood music, but it remains to be seen whether in turn this can rewrite the script.

Finally, The Lancet's report on the UK's progress with health inequalities is reported in starkly different ways by the BBC and The Guardian. As ever, see what you think.

Oh, and speaking of economics, the New Statesman has republished this rather splendid piece written by John Maynard Keynes in 1933.