Author Profile

Michael Burton

Michael Burton

Michael Burton is editorial director of The MJ

Articles by Michael Burton

A long time coming

By Michael Burton | 27 February 2015

Soaring costs and demographic changes mean the decision about health and care can no longer be po...

The next government needs to hit the ground running after May

By Michael Burton | 25 February 2015

If political parties have yet to articulate just how they intend to tackle the great issues facin...

Local government spending up in Scotland

By Michael Burton | 24 February 2015

Local government spending in Scotland increased by 1.8% last year with education and social servi...

Beware of killing the golden goose…

By Michael Burton | 24 February 2015

With local government left as the only major part of the public sector that is unprotected, Micha...

Call for focus on integrated care

By Michael Burton | 20 February 2015

Major changes to the commissioning of health services including pooling NHS and local authority c...

The new election game is fantasy public finances

By Michael Burton | 17 February 2015

The pre-election phoney war is a comedy of the absurd in which bad policies and wild spending com...

The fantasy world of parties' spending pledges

By Michael Burton | 13 February 2015

Treasury select committee report on Autumn Statement is a sober reminder of the fiscal reality th...

Merge pensions and adult care into single Whitehall department, minister urges

By Michael Burton | 11 February 2015

The next government should merge pensions and adult care into a single new Whitehall department, ...

There is no appetite for structural change…or is there?

By Michael Burton | 10 February 2015

The King's Fund last week lambasted the Coalition's distracting NHS reforms, but local government...

NHS reorganisation: cock-up or conspiracy?

By Michael Burton | 06 February 2015

In the cock-up versus conspiracy theory of politics the recent reorganisation of the NHS fits som...