Junior doctors and members of the British Medical Association (BMA) outside St Thomas’ Hospital, London, January 3, 2024
BMA hits back at Streeting’s ‘juvenile delinquency’ and ‘moaning minnies’ accusations
HEALTH SECRETARY Wes Streeting put himself on the warpath with the BMA union today, [yesterday] saying he has “had it” while accusing doctors of “juvenile delinquency” and being “moaning minnies” as they prepare Christmas strikes.
His tantrum came as the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) warned that a corridor care crisis could be repeated in English hospitals this winter.
BMA council chair Dr Tom Dolphin said: “It’s disappointing that, despite his comments about wanting to reach an agreement to call off this month’s strikes, the Secretary of State spent the morning making disparaging remarks about our members in the media rather than getting around the table with us.
“We’re surprised at the tone he’s taking, as we’re very much looking forward to meeting with him and his department to settle the various disputes for the good of both doctors and patients. We’re ready to meet him any time.”
Donald Trump shows off a letter from King Charles that Keir Starmer has just handed him, Washington, 27 February 2025. Photograph: ABACA/REX/Shutterstock
We need a ‘coalition of the willing’ capable of bringing together those in Europe and the global south. Britain should facilitate that
There are only so many times Donald Trump can be offered a state and royal visit to temper his political tantrums. With his latest attacks on Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the halting of aid to Ukraine, it’s already clear that not even the offer of a bed for the night at Balmoral has worked.
The silver lining of the Trump experience over the past fortnight is hopefully that it leads to a more realistic appraisal not just of the implications of the re-election of this narcissistic, bullying, corporate thug, but an understanding of the role the US has played over generations. Trump and his gang members JD Vance and Elon Musk are just the ugliest of faces of the US global policy pursued for a century at least.
In 1992 Noam Chomsky published a bestselling booklet, What Uncle Sam Really Wants. A read of Chomsky may help Labour’s policymakers overcome their apparent naivety so worryingly displayed in the constant references to the special relationship between the UK and US.
Trump’s “America First” policy is simply a more blatant articulation of the role the US has pursued globally since at least the second world war.
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There is an opening now for a much greater and more longer-sighted “coalition of the willing” capable of bringing together those in Europe and the global south to create the alliances and institutions needed to pursue the political and economic agenda that the US now resiles from.
This includes an economic cooperation agenda not based upon tariffs and protectionism for the wealthy, but one that is mutually beneficial and tackles both the grotesque inequalities between north and south and the common threat of the climate emergency.
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Unwise and immoral plans to cut British overseas aid, undermining soft power, are a legacy of a sort, but how much better it would be to see our prime minister using our influence and heft to bring together all those who want to discuss and construct a world reordered without the malign influences of Trump and China. That really would be a place in history worth having.
Neo-Fascist Climate Science Denier Donald Trump says Burn, Baby, Burn.Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Junior doctors and members of the British Medical Association (BMA) outside St Thomas’ Hospital, London, January 3, 2024
