Bought a new MP3 player last week. I am very anti Apple/i-Pod products and was never going to get one of those. It was either going to be a Sony or Creative. Sony didn't appeal very much because of the dependence on their own software to encode and transfer tracks (except for the new players). I liked the Zen Stone Plus for its simplicity, the ability to drag and drop tracks, charging via USB and the decent capacity. My main aim is to use it for listening to Podcasts while driving.

I am very happy with the player. The display screen does get greasy and dirty easily but maybe because the player is black this is just more visible.

I was given this book by a friend on my recent trip to India. It is a collection of essays reflecting on India's past and present in context of its future in the 21st century. I have only read about 50 pages so far and it has been an eye opener and spellbinding. A must read for anyone who wants to understand India as a country and as a burgeoning world player.

I am really enjoying my job as clinical director since July 2007. It has been a good learning experience, however, I have to say that viewing the NHS from a management perspective has done nothing to decrease my skepticism about practices in the NHS and the virtually complete dissociation of most consultant staff from flow, acute activity and the consequences underperformance in acute areas of the hospital.

I hope to be able to put forward my personal view in a series of posts on the blog. I would like to point out that these views expressed in this blog and especially in these series of posts are entirely my personal views and do not represent those of my employer, the NHS or the Department of Health.

With rationing in the NHS being an unmentionable phrase that we all live with, maybe it is time to approach the allocation of resources in a more rational way.

An interesting write up in Harvard Magazine (From Anecdote to Equation) looks at the approach proposed by Ramsey professor of political economy Richard Zeckhauser and coauthor Peter Schuck in their book Targeting in Social Programs: Avoiding Bad Bets, Bad Apples, and Bad Policies.

In any system (such as the NHS), unless resources are unlimited, there will always be some form of "rationing" or rationalizing of treatment choices & delivery. If decisions are made on the basis of a formula that ensures that the "best bet" gets the resource it needs, although cruel in the short term, will result in a fairer system and a healthier population.

Just finished reading..

This book had been in my bookshelf for a few years, finally got around to reading it. An interesting first novel. The start was a bit slow for a thriller, but the depth of the story and the buildup to the finale made it un-putdownable once I got into it.

Just finished reading this. I have to say that although the book is great, I preferred The Kite Runner, which was much more fresh. However, maybe the fact that this book is written from a completely female perspective prevented me from identifying well with the characters and their journey.

Having said that, it is a fascinating book and I read it in one afternoon - being unwell and stuck in bed helped ! I am really looking forward to the movie adaptation of The Kite Runner.

Down with Flu, not the "man flu" variety, but the real thing. Living from dose to dose of Paracetamol. Never spent so much time in bed. Alternating between violent rigors and sheet drenching sweats. Went down with it on the 1st of January and still there is no end to the suffering. I am certainly getting the flu vaccination next year.

Got quite a few books over the holiday period and bought a couple more last week:

Rather worryingly a lot of Clarkson's views appeal to me.