In November, regulator Monitor found the trust in "significant breach of its terms of authorisation" due to poor financial performance, multiple occurrences of 'never events' - including where wrong patients were operated on - and a failure to improve waiting times.

BBC: Cambridgeshire

Such voices - most strongly represented this week by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman - have tried to blame the failure of Obama's attempt to reinstate negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians on Israel's alleged intransigence.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Obama's failure, Netanyahu's opportunity

Two days after her victory, Andrew Kohut, of the Pew Research Center, published an Op-Ed in the Times about the failure of polls to predict the outcome.

NEWYORKER: The Hardest Vote