For the first time ever the nurses are on strike. They join the long list of. . . well, just about every profession, that are fed up with successive Tory governments not paying them fairly. That’ll be the same Tories that advised us that there’s no magic money tree, but then cost us billions in rubbish trade deals with their mates. So what they actually meant to say was that there was no magic money tree for the workers.
The government’s constant lying is now de rigueur and the UK journalists consistently fail to call them out on it all. Meanwhile if you read any of the foreign press’ take on our current situation it’s clear that our fall from “Great Britain” to “broken Britain” has made us a political laughing stock around the world.
There’s those that still believe that all of this was caused by the pandemic lockdowns (even though every other country has bounced back successfully). Just the other week I found myself disagreeing with a stranger on this very topic. The same stranger was also waxing lyrical about the joys of Brexit – clearly with no idea of the hardships facing so many industries.
There are those that believe the government when they go on TV and claim that the strikers are playing into Putin’s hands – but of course, Putin has nothing to do with 11 years of austerity with a side dose of the Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng trickle-down mini-budget which wiped out what was left of our economy.
Since Boris Johnson took over as Prime Minister in 2019 the lies and gaslighting have been oozing out of Tory ministers. Maybe they’ve always lied to save their skins, but pre 2019 they were definitely more covert about it.
However, my anger and frustration is targeted as much on the press for failing to hold the government to account for everything. Journalists (both in print and on screen) are literally letting these people get away with murder.
Take today for example – the nurses are out on strike, if you’ve had any dealings with the NHS over the past year you’ll know for yourself that it’s flailing and indeed failing. We don’t have the relevant skillset within the UK population to fully staff it (oo hello Brexit again), leaving positions empty, other staff overworked, and seemingly one of the only common denominators right now, is the fact that so many doctors and nurses want to leave the profession. It’s too much for too little.
All of this is dire – yet the journalists interviewing the various trade union reps are simply asking the unions why they’re ruining Christmas for us? Zero accountability for a government that have consistently walked away from the negotiating table. I’m old enough to remember the 1980s when Thatcher’s government used the same tactic, no negotiations until the opinion polls showed that support was wearing thin for the workers, giving them the impetus to remove even more workers’ rights.
A reminder that workers do not get paid on strike days, who’s ruining whose Christmas? The free press are simply following the government’s narrative. I’m not really into conspiracy theories, but who the hell is paying all of them to not ask the right questions?
More than that – our print media seem more intent on investigating the “lies” of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry than investigating the corruption at the heart of government right now.
100% the Tories are responsible for the current economic nightmare that we’re all attempting to survive, but honestly, I would hold the press equally responsible for not holding them to account.
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