Winter woe: strikes & Strep A

You’d think as we prepare to celebrate Christmas this year, free from the overhanging threat of Covid-19 restrictions, that there’d be a bit more festive joy and cheer in the air.

Except there’s a lot of angst, depression, and exhaustion. Nowhere is this more obviously illustrated than amongst our political class. What with MPs like Sajid Javid announcing they’re not standing next year (although one Boris Johnson is standing…) and the melodrama (should that be psychodrama?) of three prime ministers in three months, it’s been especially fraught.

On top of that, we’re about to enter a winter of discontent. Over the last month we’ve seen a deluge of public action and strikes by different groups. From railway workers, to nurses, ambulance workers, bus drivers, baggage handlers, highway traffic officers and driving examiners. Whatever your personal views on strike action, whether for or against, the cumulative impression it creates is of a country that’s fraying at the edges.