Peculiar? Dead right! Take a health sector on tenterhooks over burgeoning DHB deficits, a ministry undergoing radical restructuring, primary care boxing on and general practice pondering its future. Mix in a minister regarded by most as aloof from his portfolio, and you get an odd vibe. Add a shoo-in election that turns into a photo finish amid a hail of promises to spend more, more, more on health, and 2017 has been a very peculiar year