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The 1914 ‘Great War’ became a stalemate… trench warfare.
Both sides constructed extensive, fortified lines that stretched from the Swiss frontier to the North Sea.
In the winter the trenches filled with water and were shared with rats and sometimes mustard gas. About as ugly as warfare can get.
My grandfather served with distinction but was scarred for life by the gas. Later eventually, like so many, it claimed him.
New military technologies of their day like machine guns and rapid-fire artillery favoured the defender. Large-scale attacks across the No Man's Land, between the lines, left hundreds slain.
British poet and distinguished soldier, Siegfried Sassoon wrote about the horrors of war.
Despite massive, prolonged battles… the Somme and Verdun… strategic objectives were rarely achieved. Territorial gains were minimal. Measured in yards or inches.
A war of attrition… which resulted in unprecedented casualties, on both sides.
The German army’s failed spring offensive of 1918, in advance of the Americans joining the war with fresh troops and supplies, led to what historians call the August ‘Black Day’ of the German Army.
Allied forces launched a series of successful counter-offensives, with superior combined-arms tactics with infantry, artillery and tanks.
They broke through and forced the German army into a continuous retreat… convincing German commanders, the war was lost.
A ceasefire came into effect at 11am on the eleventh day of the eleventh month. The guns on the Western Front fell silent at that exact moment. Ending the fighting...
... among other things, what we will be remembering today.
To mark the end of the war Sassoon’s mother, a sculptor, planted an oak tree, in the village of Matfield, Tunbridge Wells.
Whilst there is nothing by way of parallel...
... all this flooded into my mind, along with memories of my school days learning about it, whilst I was looking through the cuttings thinking...
... what light is there left, to shine on the ugly relationship between the resident doctors, heading for another strike and Wes Streeting, when I discovered, back in July said;
… striking doctors ‘will lose a war with this government’ .
'A war'? How foolish. How gauche is that metaphor. How ridiculous. Provocative. How inept, stranded, sorrowful and forlorn does he look.
Somehow Streeting has turned himself into his Tory predecessor, Steve Barclay. Cuttings show Streeting accused Barclay of mudslinging and provocation during a former round of doctor strikes.
Streeting never supported those strikes but maintained doctors were making a ‘fair argument’ and urged the government to compromise to ‘avoid industrial action’.
Once in power he simply caved-in, bought them off with no thought to the consequences.
Perhaps this shows a wider problem? Something to with politics? Why public trust has been eroded. Why populism is replacing pragmatism.
In his mind I do not doubt Streeting sees himself 'at war’ and has dug himself in.
He’s offered to pay doctor's exam fees and improve working conditions but refuses to move on pay.
His tough stance may find him allies in the Treasury and approval from the Times... in the their £walled leader yesterday they called doctors’ demands ‘extravagant’ and accused them of ‘striking recklessness’.
But…
… the junior doctors aren’t listening to newspaper editorials or public opinion polls; they want recognition and respect after years of real-terms pay decline.
They’ve been…
… let down by the BMA, whose senior members had it tough whilst training and saw no reason why today’s cadre should have it any easier.
… let down by politicians who exploited the conviction doctors would never dismiss Hypocrites.
… let down by a system where employment contracts are with the DH+ but their working relationships are mainly in hospitals who have had neither the money nor the impetus to change anything for the better.
The public are let down. They don't seem to matter to either side.
Streeting now risks hardening mistrust.
Each new round of strikes damages morale, patients’ prospects and the very workforce the NHS needs to retain.
The longer this goes on, the harder it becomes to rebuild relationships back at the front line.
It's time for Streeting to step back.
When in opposition he called repeatedly, for the conciliation service Acas to be brought in to mediate the dispute.
He should take his own advice.
Hand the process over. Let impartial mediators create the space for compromise… a neutral forum to repair the conversation.
Streeting must learn…
... leadership means knowing when not to be the loudest voice in the room.
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