Jeremy Hunt is a fool, but the junior doctors’ strikes are becoming embarrassing

Today, thousands of doctors lay down their stethoscopes in a valiant defence of the state religion. More than 5,000 operations have been cancelled as a result of the latest walkout, which begins at 8am and will last 48 hours. If their placards bear the truth, those striking believe they are sacrificing themselves unto the throes of poverty for the sake of universal healthcare and the safety of their patients.

Jeremy Hunt is a fool. That much is uncontroversial to say, and nobody could confuse me for a Tory-bashing leftist. I support competitive markets in healthcare, as well as the private provision of services. I support the eventual redundancy of doctors through robotisation of their roles. At the start of the current dispute, I opposed the strike and was accused of being Jeremy Hunt’s spy. Some of my least pleasant colleagues threatened to sabotage my career.

But it doesn’t take a Corbynista to notice the cluelessness of Mr Hunt’s ideas. It takes a lot, on the other hand, to make the spectacularly heterogeneous NHS workforce unanimously agree in favour of one’s idiocy.