Vote for your general practice Pantomime Villain of the Year

By Pulse news desk

Pulse is currently preparing its much-anticipated Christmas awards list - and to kick things off, we want you to vote for our Pantomime Villain of the Year.

As in previous years, our Christmas awards will celebrate the best and worst in general practice, with a series of specially-selected awards bestowed upon key individuals. (Winners last year included CQC chair Baroness Young, who scooped the Shooting from the Hip award, health secretary Andy Burnham, who won a Road to Damascus award, and GPC chair Dr Laurence Buckman, whose Negotiator Contribution to Fashion Award no doubt still sits proudly on his metaphorical mantlepiece. Read the full list here.)

But this year, to celebrate the new NHS's new era of local democracy and an end to top-down decision making, we'd like to open up one very special category to our readers. Read the list of nominees below, then vote for your Pantomime Villain of the Year in the poll at the bottom right of the page.

The nominees

Andrew Lansley – the health secretary's plans to turn the NHS upside down have divided the profession, but should he be cast as villain or hero?

Ruth Carnall – the controversial NHS London chief executive employed the management consultants McKinsey to draw up a report which recommended slashing the length of GP appointments

Paul Dacre - the Daily Mail editor must have had a very bad childhood experience of general practice, as countless GP-bashing stories in 2010 continue to testify

Jim Easton – the DH's efficiency director welcomed plans for GP call centres as ‘just one example of how the service is taking the lead in identifying where it can make best use of resources'

Lord Darzi – 2008's winner of the Pantomime Villain of the Year award has had no involvement in general practice all year, but his legacy lives on…

The winner of the award - together with winners in other categories such as Fastest-Ever U-turn and our list of Real GP Champions - will be unveiled on PulseToday next week and in the next issue of Pulse magazine.

To cast your vote please select your preferred villain in the poll at the bottom of the right-hand side of the page.