It was dark and wet on the first morning of the UK doctors strike, the latest trouble facing Keir Starmer’s government.
Just over 500 days in office and Mr Starmer's woes include a stalled economy, services such as the NHS and schools stuck in perma-crisis and the impossibility of getting a grip on migration.
Somehow I had dodged the worst of Friday's rain and there was no line of pickets when I crossed into the hospital for a long-planned appointment in the strike-blighted NHS. So what did my experience say about how the system is performing under Labour?
The non-specialist cadre of resident doctors who are striking until Wednesday have a long-running grievance about pay not matching 2008 levels in real terms. They have been on strike for more than 50 days since 2023. Their orange banners and beanies have become a familiar sight at the UK’s main hospitals.
Mr Starmer’s health secretary Wes Streeting is openly advising their members not join the latest action. They have had a 29 per cent pay rise and are now demanding another 26 per cent.
The doctor’s strike shows how precarious the
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