The problems at Stafford - run by the Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust - were laid bare by the NHS regulator in March 2009.

BBC: Public inquiry into scandal-hit Stafford Hospital

Yet as a wife, I know well that a marriage is inherently a trust that does not always benefit from having its private dynamics laid bare before seven million readers.

WSJ: Why I Stopped Writing the Checks & Balances Column for The Wall Street Journal