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.

Then you add in the additional pressure in the NHS. Not only are they dealing with backlogs because of the covid-19 lockdowns, but they’re also struggling to keep staff. They are working at full capacity, trying to both catch-up and deal with seasonal flu – back of course with a vengeance, taking slippery advantage of a lack of immunity. Oh and there’s been the Strep A outbreak as well.

What about our current Prime Minister? How should we assess his performance so far? I’d personally go for competent and pragmatic. Sunak and his team have clearly employed a ‘dial it down’ strategy on some issues. Even the decision to stop Ministers doing the morning broadcast round unless they had something to say has helped calm things down. The markets are in a better place. The UK’s Debt Management Office has been operating more normally.

Even on key policies and legislation, the order of the day seems to be pragmatism. So, the Schools Bill was dropped late last year. This was a big Bill which aimed to ‘level up’ education across the country. But it also included plans to force home schooling parents to register – deeply problematic proposals that had been rejected multiple times before. The Bill of Rights might not progress either. Sunak is acknowledging the difficulties of parliamentary arithmetic and is moving on. His big focus seems to be new laws to prevent future strikes and legislation to deal with the migrant crisis.

Kier Starmer meanwhile continues in his mission to persuade the public that Labour is electable again. He benefits from not being Jeremy Corbyn. He and shadow chancellor Racheal Reeves are determined to make no unfunded spending commitments. That’s why pre-Christmas the big idea was constitutional reform – because it doesn’t cost any money! As January moves along, expect more Tory MPs to tell the world they’re not standing again and expect Labour’s poll rating to remain solid.

Stepping back from all this for a moment, it really does feel like not much is working in the country, whether that’s trains, buses, or the NHS. But one thing is working and that is the risen Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, He never stops. He is building His kingdom, extending His church, planting garrisons of Christians, outposts of heaven on earth. He is interceding for us all and He is ruling over the world. The hearts of all rulers – from Putin, to Macron, to Rishi Sunak are in His hands. Praise God that in the politics of the Kingdom of Christ, everything just works. That’s one reason, among many, to be joyful this Christmas time. Politics might be a mess, but the Lord reigns, so let the nations be glad!