Isn’t this all getting a bit ridiculous?

At last the weekend but I fear that we won’t see the end of the “we care most about the NHS” race amongst British politicians.

Cameron, back from holiday, was fast off the mark slamming the comments by Tory MEP Daniel Hannan and, of course, arranging suitable photo ops of him with smiling and apparently enthusiastic nurses.

Meanwhile with their leader, Gordon Brown, still on holiday in the Lake District it was left to Health Secretary Andy Burnham to try to exact as much political mileage out of the embarrassment facing the Tories – a position undermined by a reported throwaway remark, apparently meant as a joke, that he cared more about Everton FC than the NHS.

[SOME ADVICE TO MR BURNHAM: In the “we care most race” jokes like that should be avoided for the time being.]

Of course the one thing that nobody is engaging in is a proper discussion about how the NHS should move forward at a time when demands on its services are increasing all the time – but, hey, what we have is a media frenzy and the images on the bulletins matter a whole lot more than constructive debate.

This will all be revived when Gordon gets back and no doubt we’ll see shots of him at one hospital after another as his team work out how to make things difficult for the Tories.

Have a great weekend and I hope you are able to keep away from hospital – you don’t want to meet a politician.

Mike Smithson