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New Statesman
23-07-2025
- Health
- New Statesman
Why junior doctors are right to strike back
Photo by Guy Bell/Alamy My previous diary for the New Statesman was headlined 'Why junior doctors are right to strike'. That was 10 January 2024. Eighteen months later, here we are again. Resident doctors (now the preferred term) are still underpaid – 22.6 per cent less in real terms than they were in 2008-09. Strikes will begin on 25 July after 90 per cent of voters in a recent British Medical Association ballot supported industrial action. The only significant difference between these imminent strikes and those of January 2024 is the ruling party: with Labour in government, it's no longer possible to blame the Tories exclusively for breaking the NHS. The Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, has already warned doctors that 'the public won't forgive them', and that increasing their pay 'wouldn't be fair to other NHS workers either, many of whom are paid less'. Hardly a break from unsympathetic Tory tradition. I must declare a vested interest here. As a midwife, I am one of those 'other NHS workers' on a comparatively lower wage. The recent 3.6 per cent pay uplift offered to midwives in England, Wales and Northern Ireland 'barely covers an inflationary rise', according to the Royal College of Midwives, while a two-year pay offer of 8.1 per cent to those in Scotland just squeaks past the expected rate of inflation. This bare-minimum recognition of midwives' value undoubtedly contributes to our profession's recruitment and retention crisis, and it can't be unrelated to our disproportionately high rates of poor mental health. But far from resenting our colleagues' fight for fair pay, many of us support resident doctors unequivocally. We hope that full pay restoration for medical staff will set a precedent that might eventually benefit all NHS workers. A rising tide lifts all boats, even if, as Streeting suggests, the public wants us to drown in our own avarice. Streeting's surprising inquiry Midwives often profess to have 'seen it all' – from unlikely couples and miraculous conceptions to babies born in hospital car parks – but the one thing that has surprised us recently is Streeting's announcement of a national maternity investigation. The inquiry aims to improve outcomes by examining the failures of the worst-performing services across the country, formulating a 'clear national set of actions' by December. While any effort to rectify substandard care should be applauded, the Health Secretary's announcement was met with consternation by many midwives. Not only have numerous 'sets of actions' already been outlined by previous inquiries, but one does wonder how Streeting plans to take any action at all when, in April, the government slashed its Service Development Funding for maternity from £95m to £2m. The Royal College of Midwives' chief executive, Gill Walton, said at the time: 'These budget cuts are more than shocking; they will rip the heart out of any moves to improve maternity safety.' It remains to be seen whether change can be delivered by such a callously gutted service. Boomer baby boom In lighter news, the Office for National Statistics has announced a remarkable 14.2 per cent rise in the number of babies in England and Wales born to fathers over the age of 60. What's going on here? I suspect a post-pandemic boom in older men recoupling – and then reproducing – with younger women, as average maternal age hasn't seen a proportionate increase. Whatever the reason, it's yielded a bumper crop of babies; the overall number of live births has risen for the first time since 2021. Life rumbles on Midwives, then, are still very much in business. The NHS keeps NHS-ing, and life goes on, punctuated by the familiar landmarks of British summer: ever-worsening heatwaves, forest fires, Glastonbury scandals and Wimbledon wins. In my own little world, I am busy unpacking boxes; after 23 years in our family home, including one year as empty nesters, my husband and I have downsized to a flat in an area that's better for coffee shops than it is for school catchments. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe Amid the house-move chaos, some things remain constant: my husband heads to his job in the Scottish Ambulance Service every morning, and I pack my scrubs for my next shift in the hospital. We're both trying, in our own way, to keep people safe, but we'd quite like to be paid fairly for our commitment, too. Sorry, Wes; sorry, reader – can you ever forgive us? [See more: Doctors are striking over the shambles that's been made of their careers] Related
The Irish Sun
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
Flag of principle or fashion statement? Festival crowd flag debate rages & our writers are divided after Kneecap set
KNEECAP performed at the Glastonbury Festival in front of tens of thousands of fans chanting 'Free Palestine' over the weekend. The group's Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh Advertisement 5 Kneecap performed at Glastonbury chanting 'Free Palestine' with fans Credit: Guy Bell/Alamy Live News 5 Many people waved Palestinian flags at the gig Credit: Guy Bell/Alamy Live News 5 Gaza has been devastated by Israel Credit: Khames Alrefi/Anadolu via Getty Images However, the issue of Over the years there has also been some conflict regarding flags: festival-goers either love them or hate them. Advertisement For some it's a way to But for critics, they are nothing more than a fashionable way to get noticed. A number of years ago, Writing in The Irish Sun today, EMMA MOONEY and NICOLA BARDON argue both sides of the coin. FOR - NICOLA BARDON 5 Nicola Bardon is in favour of the flags Credit: Collect Through Journalist Advertisement A FEW weeks ago I was at Macklemore's gig in St Anne's Park in The crowd was awash with colour — Irish flags, Palestinian flags, I knew I was supporting the right musician and was among the right crowd there and then. You see in this day and age, it is easy to sit on the fence and say nothing. Fury as Glastonbury crowd chants 'death to the IDF' during Bob Vylan set aired live on BBC That way, you can sit back and see what the outcome is and then claim that's what you believed all along. Advertisement Or despite having millions of followers online, live in fear of what will happen if, God forbid, you say But I will not stand for that silence anymore. According to Al-Jazeera, 62,614 Palestinians have died at the hands of the IDF since October 2023. That is 11.5 times the population of my hometown. That is more than the entire population of the county of Advertisement My colleague will use words like 'virtue signalling' a phrase used by the far-right or basically anyone who doesn't understand something and just thinks people who care about other people are 'woke.' But let me tell you, when you are watching videos from Gaza every day, babies dying without food, entire families being bombed, kids clamouring to get out of burning buildings, five-year-old Hind Rajab and her family blasted to death in a car that was shot at 335 times by the We can show the world where we stand Nicola Bardon But we feel powerless. We feel guilty for going to gigs and having a good time when someone across the world, the same age as us, probably has not eaten in days. So what can we do? We can show the world where we stand. We can show each other where we stand. If that means looking across St Anne's Park or Stradbally or Malahide Castle and seeing a pin, a flag, a jersey or hearing a chant of 'Free, Free Palestine' to know you are in the right company, then I will wear my keffiyeh every time. Advertisement AGAINST - EMMA MOONEY 5 Emma Mooney thinks it is 'little more than accessorised activism' Credit: Garrett White - The Sun Dublin APPARENTLY a Palestinian flag is the latest must-have trend for some festivalgoers. Where once it was socks and a bucket hat, it's now draping yourself in a keffiyeh and hoisting the striped cloth with all the pride of US marines on Iwo Jima. They were everywhere at A Palestine flag makes you look up-to-date and, dare I say it, woke. It suggests that you are 'on the right side of history'. Advertisement But it's hard for me to see this as little more than accessorised activism - in other words, virtue signalling. Is the flag less about Palestine and more about you? Never was this more obvious than when one camp got their flag up only for one festivalgoer to cry, 'it looks lovely', followed by the inevitable selfies. Whatever side of this atrocious war you find yourself standing on, such examples of lazy activism is in my view offensive. Is the flag less about Palestine and more about you? Emma Mooney A devastating fight that's claimed thousands of innocent lives is not an excuse to play dress up. Advertisement For me, it's not protest, it's performance. I notice how such people never carry these flags while doing the weekly shop. It seems it's more often at highly photographed, ultra-crowded spaces they are donned. In my opinion, you can't say 'free Palestine' without saying 'f*** Hamas'. And it doesn't change some of their behaviour - raving to techno on ketamine isn't a form of protest simply because you've made a cape out of a Palestinian flag. Advertisement Instead, it trivialises a devastating situation and reduces it to festival attire. But to find such behaviour distasteful is to go against 'right think'. As Peep Show tells us: 'If there isn't room here for people who stand against everything you believe in, what sort of hippy free-for-all is this?' Real activism doesn't require you to be at the centre of it - make donations, sign petitions, go to protests, do anything and everything you can to bring about a ceasefire, but for the love of God, take down the flag.
