Cameron, the EU and Scotland and the NHS internet of things

It would be interesting to see all of these topics into a single article, but this is to cover two recent articles. The first, for Beacon, looks at the two big gambles for David Cameron’s government over the next five years: Britain’s place in Europe or Scotland’s place in Britain.

My guess is that Mr Cameron is more likely to win than lose on both (in the case of Scotland, through avoiding another referendum) by the time he stands down, but neither are anywhere near a safe bet.

The piece also gives me an excuse to repeat some highlights of the brilliant Sex, Lies and the Ballot Box: 50 things you need to know about British elections (edited by Philip Cowley and Robert Ford) including how voters for the two main parties became significantly more approving of Humphrey the Downing Street cat if told he was appointed by ‘their’ prime minister.

For Guardian Public Leaders, I have written about how the NHS is just starting to use ‘internet of things’ technologies, although in a relatively small way. It’s a common NHS IT story: there are a few pioneering enthusiasts, some interviewed in this piece, doing really smart stuff. The problem is that there are only a few of them, and spreading usage of internet-connected technology is likely to take a long time.