London Calling: There's a malpractice crisis in France, too, it seems. How bad is it? So bad the surgeons there are not only striking, they're fleeing to London:

The surgeons will board Eurostar trains on August 30 and congregate either in Wembley Conference Centre or the Great Hall, Westminster - the exact venue has not yet been fixed - until September 5 to avoid being 'requisitioned' by French local authorities during their strike.

'We're expecting about half the country's 6,000 surgeons to take part and most of the rest will refuse to perform any non-emergency operations for a week,' said Philippe Cuq, one of the organisers. 'The government is going to have to wake up to this crisis.'

Dr Cuq said the sums reimbursed by French social security for surgical interventions had not increased 'by a single centime' for more than 15 years, while surgeons' insurance premiums had risen by up to 500% since 2002 alone.

There was a time not so very long ago when the thought of three thousand Frenchmen descending on London would have struck fear in any Englishman's heart. Changes. Strange changes.