A shake-up of dental service last year was meant to improve access to NHS dentistry.

But a survey of 5,200 dental patients has found that many been forced to go private after their dentist stopped offering NHS treatment.

Other patients have not been able to register with any dentist or have even started treating themselves.

Dentists told the survey the quality of care given to patients had declined under the new contract, introduced in April 2006.

The government acknowledges that problems remain but says the report gives a very narrow picture of NHS dentistry.

What do you think? Have you or your family had problems finding an NHS dentist? Send us your comments.

It’s every patient’s nightmare - go to hospital for a routine procedure and then become infected with a potentially deadly superbug.

Last month Prime Minister Gordon Brown promised a “deep clean” of every National Health Service hospital in England to rid them of killer infections.

But this morning the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust in Kent is facing the possibility of criminal action after outbreaks of Clostridium Difficile that killed around 90 patients at its hospitals.

A Healthcare Commission report said appalling hygiene, a shortage of nurses and poor management at the trust were all to blame.

Health Secretary Alan Johnson said the findings were a scandal but said they did not reflect the state of other hospitals across the country.

What do you think? Have you experienced poor hygiene in an NHS hospital? Do you fear catching an infection during a hospital stay?

Newspapers say Gordon Brown has been badly damaged by his decision not to call an election after allowing speculation to rise over an early vote.

The Conservatives say the episode has shown the prime minster as weak and indecisive.

They will relish the chance of accusing him of being “Bottler Brown” for weeks to come.

But Justice Secretary Jack Straw says the incident has not damaged Brown and will soon be forgotten.

“When the history of this period comes to be written, there won’t be a chapter devoted to the last 10 days in British politics, not even half a paragraph,” he told BBC Radio. “This will pass.”

What do you think? Is this just a fleeting storm in the famous Westminster teacup, or will it be seen as a defining moment in Brown’s career?

Send us your comments.

It’s a sign of how far the Conservatives have changed under David Cameron that a fringe meeting about grammar schools could be feverishly anticipated in the media as a rallying point for dissidents at the annual conference here in Blackpool.

The National Grammar Schools Association would not once have been regarded as a forum for a Tory rebellion.

But Cameron’s decision to end what he calls the sterile debate over the 11-plus exam by adopting Labour’s mantra of “no more selection” means that grammar school supporters in his party have been pushed to the non-conformist sidelines.

In the end the meeting did not quite live up to its billing, as one paper put it, as the “hottest” fixture of the week.

The hundred-strong audience barely filled half the meeting room – and a good many of them were journalists hoping for a story.

Under the glare of the television lights backbench Conservative MP Graham Brady – who quit as shadow Europe minister over his repeated support for grammars – began by puncturing the media’s hopes he would spoil the conference’s air of unity by launching an attack on his leader.

“If you are here looking for a vibrant debate about the evidence that selective education works and raises standards, not just for people in grammar schools but across the whole spectrum … then you are in the right place,” he said.

“If any of you have come looking for criticism of David Cameron or something to report about splits and disharmony in the Conservative Party, then I hope you will leave disappointed.”

Grammars were the scene of a rare u-turn by Cameron earlier this year – when it was conceded that some new grammars could be built in areas of growing population.

Brady’s caution might have been due to the presence of a party minder in the room making sure he didn’t speak out of turn.

After one delegate questioned how the MP for Altrincham and Sale West could square party allegiance with his support for grammars, Brady joked about the surveillance.

“I hope the deputy chief whip present here in the room has noted the rebuke that I have been delivered for following party discipline and the criticism that I am facing.”

Former Chief Inspector of Schools Chris Woodhead, a conservative by nature but not a party member, was under no such restraint.

Well known for his trenchant views on education, he said Cameron’s decision to abandon support for selection would be a “tragedy” for hundreds of thousands of teenagers.

Noting the huge popularity of the remaining 164 grammars among parents – most are heavily oversubscribed – he warned that it could also be a costly political miscalculation.

As election speculation mounts the tone of political discussion can become dignified or downright dirty.

In a memorable scene in the 1988 feature “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”, Donald and Daffy Duck play opposing pianos while engaging in an increasingly destructive argument after Daffy accuses Donald of being “dethspicable”.

On Wednesday the d-word was being exchanged again as Defence Minister Bob Ainsworth rebutted Conservative claims that Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s surprise visit to Iraq was a “pre-election photo opportunity”.

In a BBC radio encounter, Ainsworth said Tory Defence Spokesman Liam Fox was distorting Brown’s announcement of a further troop withdrawal in a “quite despicable way” and was a “disgrace”.

Fox countered that it was “genuinely despicable” for Brown to play political games with British troops in Iraq.

The altercation ended with Ainsworth stating that Fox was making “utterly incredible” suggestions about troop levels.

If an election is called political temperatures will inevitably rise. But will the quality of debate? And does it matter? Which do you prefer — Punch and Judy politics or reasoned debate? Send us your comments.

The Conservatives don’t debate climate change until the Wednesday of their conference here in Blackpool but in the packed corridors and bars of the Imperial Hotel on the seaside resort’s front there is one common complaint - the heat.

Perhaps it’s a testament to the power of human bodies to generate their own warmth, but the atmosphere in the crowded rooms during fringe debates is near-tropical.

Conservative party delegates tend to dress more formally than their Labour or Liberal Democrat counterparts, but in side-meetings here jackets are carried over sleeves or shoulders as their red-faced owners fan themselves with policy handouts and brochures.

One enterprising organisation has even produced folding fans imprinted with their message to keep the party activists cool.

The heavy climate adds to the political temperature, but there is little evidence delegates are taking it out on the party leadership.

In a BBC-sponsored debate on Sunday evening, provocatively titled “David Cameron — Out Of Touch With His Own Party?”, members refused to take the bait and criticise their leader.

Instead they had to be restrained from turning the event into an attack on what they claimed was the broadcaster’s bias against the Tories.

Despite a robust defence by BBC radio host Martha Kearney, it was Spectator columnist Peter Oborne who won the meeting’s biggest round of applause for a dig at the broadcaster.

He said the BBC would have “massacred” any conservative minister who called, as Prime Minister Gordon Brown did last week, for British jobs for British workers and for the repatriation of criminals.

MP Jeremy Hunt, the party’s media spokesman, weighed in with his own warning to the broadcaster.

“It is very important for the BBC to understand that it doesn’t just report political culture, it creates the political culture,” he said.

“If your view about politicians is that we are all lying bastards, then in the end that is the view that the country will start to adopt.”

After the heat of the meeting it was time for the conference traffic jam, with delegates from two other events ending at the same time turning the narrow wood-panelled corridor outside into a solid, unmoving block of perspiring delegates, waiters and food trolleys.

“It’s worse than the Tower of London in here,” one delegate commented. But no crown jewels — just the warmth and close press of fellow activists.

Russia has revived its Soviet-era practice of continuous long-range bomber patrols, sending 14 aircraft on such missions in the latest in a series of moves apparently designed to show off Russia’s new-found assertiveness.

On Tuesday the Ministry of Defence said two of its Royal Air Force Typhoon jets had shadowed one of those bombers.

It showed pictures of the Russian Bear-H aircraft over the North Atlantic Ocean, but outside British air space.

Russia’s military is now receiving a major injection of cash to modernise ageing equipment — including new planes — after years of under-funding and neglect since the Soviet Union ceased
to exist.

Some Western policymakers are saying Russia is just indulging in a bout of “chest-pounding”, but others are concerned about the country’s growing assertiveness and draw parallels with the Cold War.

What do you think? Send us your comments.

A Norfolk councillor has promised an “aggressive”
response if there is any repeat of the violence which saw a
100-strong mob attack a police station in Great Yarmouth at
the weekend.

Steve Bett, chairman of the Norfolk Police
Authority, blames a lack of respect for the behaviour.

Last week a police chief called for the age for buying alcohol to
be raised to counter drink-fuelled teenage agression.

But Conservative Leader David Cameron says the problem is
not alcohol but social breakdown.

He says the tax and benefits system drives parents apart and
wants financial changes that would encourage families to stay
together.

What do you think will tackle crime and social disorder?
“Aggressive” action, drink bans or benefit changes? Send us your comments.