From the royal family to government ministers it feels like doubling down into entrenched positions is becoming the norm for people who really should know better – or should have better advisors.
It’s one thing to have a position, to remain professional, even to do the stiff upper lip thing some Brits do so well.
But when defending your position leads you to become completely tone deaf to what is really going on, it becomes dangerous.
A few brave members of the Conservative party last week broke ranks and called on ministers to sit down and talk to the striking nurses. I notice our MP was not one of them – it’s not like him to stick his neck out. But surely the only way to end a dispute like this, one that could quite literally endanger lives, is to talk.
The government’s basic position on how much it would cost to fund the nurses’ pay demand has already been blown out of the water by full fact. So isn’t it time to get round the table?
To me there is something unsurprising yet depressing about a male prime minister, a male chancellor of the exchequer and a male health secretary refusing to sit down and talk to the women who represent the nurses’ union. A union representing a workforce that is 90% female. Do they think if they just stay resolute in their position and talk tough that eventually the women will back down? Do they see it as a badge of honour to be unwilling to talk? Would it be seen as weak to actually listen to what the nurses are trying to tell them?
Do they really believe the public will admire them for acting like this?
If so, they’ve got this so wrong… Weakness is not being willing to listen to your opponent. Weakness is not being willing to negotiate. Weakness is acting like a bully, being too scared to come to the table in case you might have to soften your position, and believing the other side will eventually just cave to your demands if you stand tough for long enough.
I wouldn’t underestimate the nurses if I were Steve Barclay. I’d get round that table PDQ. And if I were a Tory MP I’d be clamouring publicly for my government to do just that. Because if they don’t, thousands of nurses left in the profession who are exhausted beyond belief and struggling to make ends meet will see no other option but to leave, and the problems will just get worse. We need their experience on the wards. We owe them more than a handclap and a thank you. We simply can’t afford to let the whole system collapse.
And it’s good to talk.