More strikes are coming to Britain, with 100,000 civil servants due to strike on 1 February. For 18 days across February and March, 150 universities will be shut down by University and College Union action. Last week, 45,000 junior doctors began voting on strike action. They will join transport workers, nurses, ambulance workers and a number of other public and private professionals – an objection of strikers, to suggest a collective noun.
Their caricatures have been vividly painted – “ fat cat” trade union leaders, entitled workers, uncaring healthcare professionals who are taking