In a week when the government announced its plans for ‘well notes’ I (and presumably all college members) received a government pamphlet, disguised under the camouflage of ‘TSO’ (The Stationary Office) purporting to be ‘An evidence-based approach for General Practitioners’ on ‘Advising Patients About Work’ enclosed with my College journal.

The publication claims but does not cite evidence of causation for unemployment on medical expense, poor general health, mental health problems, and mortality. I accept evidence of association of unemployment with all these problems but don't expect a supposedly academic College to fund the promulgation of sloppy ideas by a government that appears to be attempting to change NHS general practice into a Nationalised Occupational Medical Service by extending opening hours and devising a ‘well note’.

The Editor would have prevented such wild claims being made in the pages of the Journal, rather than simply being included within a postal cover that gave them an improper credibility. The government's view of ‘evidence’ appears to fall short of any academic definition. It seems that the Editor's authority should be extended beyond the contents of the Journal itself to the envelope in which it comes.

College benefits scarcely extend beyond receiving the Journal and using some letters after my name: I do not pay the best part of £500 to be lobbied by the English Department of Health! If the College is to act as an agent of state propaganda, College officers should let us know how many pieces of silver are to be exchanged.