The New Statesman.

Junior doctors are set to go on strike yet again.

The courts are increasingly log-jammed, and the OBR has stated that Britain simply can't

afford to exist as it has done previously.

So where do the country's creaking public services go from here and how?

I'm Anusha Kellyan, and this is the New Statesman podcast.

And here to discuss the latest developments in the long-running issue of general state malaise.

I'm joined by my colleagues Rachel Cunneliff, George Eaton and Will Dunn.

George, why don't you kick us off with what the latest is on the junior or now we call them resident doctor strikes and the

context of all of this. They voted for five days of strike action in July, and this is a real

headache for the government on several levels. So you'll remember one of the first things Labor did

after entering office was settled that long-running disputes and they gave junior doctors a

22% pay rise over two years, which some, some conservatives would have regarded as overly generous,

but West Streeting made the argument, if you want to get NHS waiting lists down and if you

want to reset relations, it was necessary. But if we see a return

to fraught industrial relations, that's a real headache in terms of their reform agenda and

reducing waiting lists. And I think that's why West Streeting has taken a very combative approach

with their other pay award factored. And he said, look, I don't know any trade union, which

has received a 28.9% pay rise and then voted for more strike action.

The case that junior doctors make is that their pay is still lower in real terms than it

was pre-austerity.

Where it gets quite technical is the rate of inflation you use.

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