live_tv
Livestream Starting Soon
00
Hours
:
00
Minutes
:
00
Seconds
Up next in 10
James O'Brien delivers his opening monologue as the government and resident doctors head toward a possible five-day NHS strike later this month.
With public support dropping from 52% to just 26%, James questions whether his usual instinct to back industrial action still holds up, and whether it's right to focus solely on pay figures.
Resident doctors, previously known as junior doctors, are set to walk out from 25th - 30th July in an ongoing dispute over pay.
The government says it can’t improve its 5.4% offer, while the British Medical Association says it's still open to talks.
Listen to the full show on the all-new LBC App: https://app.af.lbc.co.uk/btnc/thenewlbcapp
#jamesobrien #doctorsstrike #LBC #ukpolitics #keirstarmer
LBC is the home of live debate around news and current affairs in the UK.
Join in the conversation and listen at https://www.lbc.co.uk/
Sign up to LBC’s weekly newsletter here: https://l-bc.co/signup
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
It felt, didn't it, when we turned our attention to it last week
0:03
that the looming resident doctors' strike was going to be very unpopular
0:09
So what? I mean, when are strikes popular? Answer rarely, but the last one was
0:14
The last resident doctors' strike, when they were still known as junior doctors
0:19
was actually quite popular. Support for it stood at, well, yeah, you got it, 52%
0:25
The infernal ratio, there were probably some don't-knows, So I don't know whether the opposition to it stood at 48%
0:33
But if it was 52-48%, then you could be forgiven for feeling haunted by that statistic
0:38
I know I sometimes do. What do you think it's gone down to now? This was opinion polling commissioned by The Guardian
0:46
which doesn't traditionally lean against trade unions. So what do you think it's gone down to now
0:52
It's quite a stark drop, I'll tell you that. 52% support last time, down to 26% this time
1:00
We're streeting due to representatives of the British Medical Association this week
1:05
hoping to avert five days of strikes that are due to start later this month
1:14
I have often said to you that I think it is just as stupid to oppose
1:20
or indeed to support every strike as it is to oppose every strike
1:25
And yet, sometimes when I say that, I find myself thinking, well, hang on a minute, you generally support every strike
1:32
I don't think that I do, but it could be that my very winning little pithy adage
1:39
comes back to bite me on the backside. When's the last strike you didn't support
1:43
I can't remember, to be honest with you, but I'm sure there must be strikes I haven't
1:47
As a general rule as well, when it comes to some members of the public sector
1:51
I think I got this wrong as well. Oh, Lord, it's not going to be one of those weeks, is it
1:55
I'm not going to have a Catholic week, big C, where I just sort of self-flagellate and atone for all my sins on live national radio
2:02
But I don't think this works either. I used to say to you that when a teacher tells me that they need to go on strike
2:09
I trust them because I also trust them with my child's welfare. When I hand my child over to teachers
2:15
I trust them with my child's life, ultimately, and therefore when they say that they need to go on strike
2:20
I should probably trust them with that as well. And I can kind of frame the same kind of attitude to doctors
2:25
But that's not actually quite as clever as I used to think it was either, is it
2:30
Because you could be the best teacher in the world, but a bit of an idiot when it comes to industrial action
2:34
It's not really about trust. I mean, you know, I wouldn't necessarily trust a doctor
2:39
to do something that's not doctorish. So just because I trust a doctor with my health
2:44
were I in need of a, I don't know, an operation doesn't mean that I'd trust him with financial advice
2:50
or go to him for holiday tips. Is that stupid? Have I dropped another clangor there
2:56
Saying to you many, many times over the years that you should trust teachers and doctors when they say they have to go on strike because you trust them with other things in completely different circumstances Oof Oh I hope it not going to be one of those weeks
3:09
It's probably the weather, actually. It's boiling all our brains, although it is, I think, set to break tomorrow
3:15
So I don't know that that is quite as a zinging observation as I used to think it was
3:22
I probably still lean towards teachers a little more. But here's the thing I can't get past when it comes to the doctors
3:30
They get a 5.4% pay rise this year, which is more than almost everybody
3:36
And they got a 22% pay rise for the previous two years
3:44
And I fully appreciate that you can crunch the numbers in a way that leaves them some way behind where they were in 2008
3:53
um helpful phrase alert in real terms but the way that lands in the country at the moment
4:04
i just think is so tenured i i'm casting myself today as quite a passionate opponent of this
4:13
industrial action um at least i am at nine minutes past ten you know how this works i could get to
4:18
quarter past and i've taught myself back around again but i can't get past the numbers and i think
4:22
that will be the question that I ask you. Is it right or wrong to just get stuck on the numbers
4:28
Not on the history or the historical disparity, but just looking at the country today
4:35
and asking yourself whether or not the mooted, proposed, planned, scheduled
4:45
I got there in the end, the scheduled industrial action is something you can support. So there are
4:51
two questions here aren't there there is my reason for not supporting it this time around and uh your
4:59
invitation to to pick that apart and tell me why i'm wrong and there is your reason for either
5:07
supporting or not supporting and there's also the question of why we think whether we're part of the
5:13
statistic or not why we think public support has plummeted and and i think you can use that word
5:20
It's a slightly overused word. Is it one of those words that only ever appears in journalese, like romp
5:26
You never hear anyone talking about, oh, I had a lovely romp this weekend. That would be a little bit inappropriate, I suppose, to share the details of my private life on the radio
5:34
had I indeed enjoyed such a thing over the course of the weekend
5:38
But I don't ever hear anyone talk about a romp. Is plummet the same
5:41
Does anything ever plummet except in headlines and news reports? I like those lists of words
5:46
we could possibly put together a few more words that only ever appear in the
5:51
news language the language of newspapers romp and plummet today so i don see how when you and that the other question isn it whether or not you should be basing your opinion of the doctor strike on the bigger picture or whether it should be solely based upon
6:15
the doctor's situation but you need to think of the patients how many patients have had a 22
6:21
pay rise in the last few years answer probably none or next to none unless of course you've got
6:27
a doctor who's currently in receipt of medical treatment and and that seems to me to be quite a
6:34
dangerous moment for resident doctors to enjoy public support on the sort of scale that they did
6:39
was was i thought a lovely moment i told you i saw the michael sheen starring as nye bevan in in the
6:45
play nye at the national theater last week and it really brings you back to a deep and abiding love
6:52
for the NHS. The way in which it was conceived and delivered against all odds by essentially the
6:59
dream and vision of one extraordinary man is a play of beauty, but it's also a story of genuine
7:05
beauty. And a couple of things in it really resonated with me. Like, for example
7:12
doctors should be the highest paid professionals in the country. I don't know when that ceased to
7:18
be true, or indeed if it ever was, but it resonates, right? Of course, if you live in a country, I mean
7:24
you know, I get paid more than most doctors. I can't really justify that. It's a commercial
7:29
reality. It's the way that things go. But society decides how much doctors get paid
7:34
Markets decide how much I get paid. They're two different things. Markets don't really decide how
7:38
much doctors get paid. Governments do. Societies do. Populations do. Voters do. And in a way
7:46
doctors do when they exert this kind of pressure, this kind of influence on politicians demanding more
7:54
So I can't do it. I'm sorry, guys, but 22% over two years, 5.4% last year
8:01
asking again for a big rise this year when we know that the public purse is in dire straits
8:06
It seems to me to be wrong to the point of offensive
8:11
0345 6060 973 is the number you need to tell me one of three things
8:16
Why I've got it right, why I've got it wrong, or why you have the opinion you have
8:22
on the imminent industrial action to be taken by resident doctors. Is it simply the numbers
8:28
52 to 26, a halving of support for this mooted strike. Is it simply down to the fact that we can crunch these numbers ourselves
8:38
and we cannot muster support for an industrial action been taken overpay by people who've received eye-watering rises in recent years
8:47
and the argument that, well, yes, but if you go back 17 years, you'll see that they have actually fallen behind parity in real terms
8:55
It just isn't washing with me. I kind of, and I reserve the right to swing
9:01
There's another word that you only see in tabloid journalism, but I reserve the right to let my pendulum swing this morning and if you come up with really powerful arguments than by 11 o today It plausible that i will be where i usually am when industrial action is being taken by public sector workers because they do not get the wages they deserve unless they exert pressure and that
9:22
true of everybody from from teachers and nurses who are making noises again today but who west
9:27
streeting is likely to use to justify not meeting the doctor's demands he'll say it wouldn't be fair
9:33
on the other if he hasn't already said it he'll say it wouldn't be fair on the other members of the
9:37
NHS workforce but I can't see at the moment how you can justify this unless you're closing your
9:46
eyes to the broader economic realities that the country is in and maybe you can convince me that
9:52
we should maybe you can convince me that we should close our eyes to the broader economic realities
9:55
and delivering Nye Bevan's dream of an extremely well-paid workforce in the NHS
10:02
is something that we can prioritise over other concerns. I genuinely can't see it at the moment
10:10
You can tell, by the way, that I sound a bit pained. I don't like the position that I find myself in
10:15
but I'm nothing if not honest with you every day. And right now, arguments, well-rehearsed arguments notwithstanding
10:23
I can't see it. I can't get past the numbers. The number I can't get past is 22
10:30
The number I'm intrigued by is 26. 22 is the percentage pay rise they got over two years prior to last year
10:38
26 is where the percentage support polling shows support for the strikes by voters has gone down too
10:46
It has halved. So what do you think? 0-3-4-5-6, 0-6-0-9-7-3. I don't want to kind of
10:54
I'm worried lately that I've started telling you off too much telling you not to contribute to the programme
11:01
but I can't help the way my brain works and I'm afraid that
11:04
if you're going to get in touch with me to point out how much MPs earn, you're just going to make me yawn
11:09
it's just it's not a helpful contribution to the conversation is it, I posted about
11:14
Stuart Lee the other day, I saw him on Saturday night at the National Theatre, if you get the chance
11:18
to catch that show Just see it. See it several times. It's so funny
11:24
It's transportingly funny. You post how brilliant it is, and there's always someone who replies
11:27
well, I don't find him funny. And you sort of think to yourself, do you think this to yourself
11:32
Who does that? Why would you do that? So we're having a conversation about the doctor's strikes
11:36
and how much do MPs get paid? Maybe I'm a bad person
11:40
but it just makes me yawn. I don't want you to be the person that makes me yawn
11:45
So don't be that person. Answer the questions that I'm asking. Let's say, we're having a conversation about doctor strikes
11:51
Oh, well, let's talk about forklift truck drivers. Well, maybe I'm being unfair, perhaps
11:55
What do we reckon? What do we reckon? Ideally, you supported it last time and you don't support it this time
12:01
because then we both become that thing that I usually warn against
12:06
If you support all the strikes, you're almost as daft as the person who supports none of them
12:10
So if you supported the last one and you don't support this one, give me a call and tell me why
#Law & Government
#news
#Work & Labor Issues