Theresa May faces angry NHS workers during radio phone-in

Theresa May was put on the spot by a doctor considering resigning over understaffing in the NHS and low morale caused by the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, as she took questions from members of the public on an LBC radio phone-in.

The prime minister was told by Romeena from Leeds that healthcare professionals were finding it “near impossible” to provide safe care for their patients. The paediatrician said she was considering resignation after 12 years “because things have got so bad on the shop floor” and questioned why Hunt was still in his job following the doctors’ strikes.

“I’ve witnessed organ transplants being cancelled because there haven’t been enough nurses to provide post-operative care,” the doctor said. “Whatever the government is doing, it is clearly not enough – and you have reappointed as health secretary somebody who has demoralised the whole workforce.

“It seems like you stand up and support somebody who allowed junior doctors to go on strike, who seems to be allowing nurses to go on strike and that doesn’t fall in line with what the frontline of the NHS want to see.”

May dodged a question about whether she knew how unpopular Hunt was and maintained he had sorted out the row with junior doctors over their pay and conditions satisfactorily.

“What I would say is Jeremy Hunt has done a very good job in saying to everyone what we need to focus on is the quality of care,” she said, adding that she had experienced care as a type 1 diabetic.

The prime minister claimed the Conservatives had responded to a request from the NHS for £10bn by 2010 in real terms, although this figure is disputed, and that more money would be going to A&E departments because more people are going to be treated there.

May was hit with tough questions from members of the public over the state of public services, her record on failing to meet the Conservative target on immigration, low morale in the armed forces and insufficient help with childcare.

A listener called Sophia, who also worked in the NHS, said she was thinking of voting Labour because she was not yet convinced that May was helping the “just-about-managing” people with childcare costs of around £700 a month.

“I think it’s great you’ve increased it to 30 hours for three- and four-year-olds but there is a great gap there for two-year-olds,” the listener said.

May cited cutting the personal allowance and free hours of childcare for three and four years, but acknowledged there was “more work to do” when it came to helping just managing families with their costs.

Nick Ferrari, the LBC interviewer, interjected many times with follow-up questions, pressing the prime minister particularly on whether she would be raising taxes, as the party looks set to abandon its promise not to raise VAT, income tax or national insurance for the next five years.

She declined at least three times to say she would make that promise for the full parliament, saying: “We are a party that believes in actually trying to ensure we have low taxes … we have no plans to increase the level of tax but what I’m saying is that’s because we are party that believes in a low tax … as a government, we would go into government with no plans to raise the level of tax.”

May was confronted with remarks made earlier on Thursday by her predecessor, David Cameron, who said May needed to win a strong majority in the election so she could stand up to people in the UK and Europe who wanted an “extreme Brexit”. She said Cameron had been right about the need for the election but the reason for that was the requirement for “the security, the stability for five years of greater certainty that can take us through Brexit and beyond”.

The half-hour programme contained personal revelations from May, as she talked about being “very said” not to have had children with her husband Philip. “Of course, we are not the only couple that finds ourselves in that situation and when you do I suppose you just get on with life,” she said.

Asked if she would have been able to devote so much of herself to work if she had children, May replied: “I look at some of my parliamentary colleagues and people who have been in the cabinet who had children and yes, they do apply themselves, they are just very well organised. I think that is the key thing.”

And amid reported tensions with Philip Hammond, her chancellor, the prime minister raised some eyebrows by claiming that the most important Philip in Downing Street was the one who shared her flat in No 10 rather than the political occupant of No 11.

The prime minister did not shy away from talking about her faith in the interview; she said her Christianity helped her through the death of her father and mother when she was in her 20s.

She also discussed her love of cooking, saying she has more than 100 cookery books and would make Donald Trump a slow roast shoulder of lamb if the US president came to dinner.

Theresa May faces angry NHS workers during radio phone-in

Radio DJs are suppliers of banal chatter, not health advice on partying | David Mitchell

Sometimes it’s the little things that get to you. Viruses, obviously. Bacteria. Tiny, tiny flakes of asbestos. Or, to be less literal, the inconsequential things. An inconsequential thing that got to me last week was a report of some Northumbria University research saying that Radio 2 DJs’ repeated references to alcohol were making their listeners hit the bottle.

That’s how it was spun by the tabloid reporting it. But I suppose that was just its way of dragging the story closer to one of the small collection of things it likes to always say: “Women who aspire to do anything deserve the misery they inevitably suffer”; “Decent people are no longer safe in their own homes”; “The BBC is evil”; “Everything gives you cancer”. “This one’s a three!” someone must’ve shouted across the newsroom.

I’m sure the details of the study are more nuanced. The researchers analysed four radio stations aimed at listeners who were middle-aged or older – three commercial ones and Radio 2 – to find out the frequency and nature of the booze-mentioning. And what do you think they found out? You’re right, it’s that.

They are blaming Simon Mayo for ‘normalising’ drunkenness. I’m pretty sure it’s been normal since Dionysus

Yes, obviously the DJs mentioned booze loads and repeatedly implied that it was fine and nice. As Northumbria’s associate professor of public health and wellbeing put it: “Alcohol consumption is often portrayed as the norm without negative consequences, and just 5% of references on all stations were about sensible drinking.” That’s a lot more discussion of sensible drinking than I would’ve expected.

This is a bit of a soft target, you might think. Leave the guys at Northumbria University alone. If they can get funding for counting the number of times Steve Wright mentions Lambrusco, maybe I should wish them luck. But I don’t. Because it’s another case of people scrutinising how other people talk and vetting them for inadvertent divergences from an approved value system. A mild case, perhaps – these guys aren’t no-platforming Peter Tatchell – but they are blaming Simon Mayo for “normalising” drunkenness. I’m pretty sure it’s been normal since Dionysus. The study will probably be ignored but, in these inane times, you just can’t be completely sure.

So it might be worth saying something obvious: DJs on the radio have to talk like human beings – the specific human beings they happen to be. That’s the premise of this form of entertainment: natural chat interspersed with music. It’s not high culture but it passes the time in heavy traffic.

But it won’t work if the people at the microphone, desperately trying to keep the energy up, also have to reflect some externally imposed consensus of how life should be lived. That’s Thought for the Day, which is scripted in advance and lasts under three minutes. Any longer than that and it really would drive listeners to drink…

DJ 1: And Chris from Reading has tweeted to say he’s “just kicking back and chilling with a couple of beers”. Nice one, Chris, but do remember that’s at least four of your recommended maximum of 14 weekly units right there. So do maybe stick at two.

DJ 2: Depending on how much you’ve been drinking the rest of the week, Chris. Are these really your first? Or has it been two every night? Maybe it’s time for a break. I’d hate to think you can’t kick back and chill without the soporific effect of beer. I wouldn’t want to normalise that.

DJ 1: But it’s good that you’re talking about it. Perhaps this is the first step towards a better understanding of your problem.

DJ 2: Yes indeed. And keep those tweets, texts and emails coming in. The weekend starts here…

JINGLE: It’s Friiiiidaaaaaaaaaaaaay! The weekend starts here!

DJ 1: Julie from Norwich has asked for a shout-out to everyone who works with her…

DJ 2: Hi guys!

DJ 1: And says they’re partying already.

DJ 2: Nice one!

DJ 1: She says they’re “already popping the prosecco around the photocopier”.

DJ 2: Ooh. Now, erm, should we be normalising that? I assumed she meant dancing, games, cake…

DJ 1: Not to underplay the obesity crisis.

DJ 2: Of course not – we’re sitting on a diabetes timebomb. Nevertheless, cake is OK occasionally, at a party.

DJ 1: Mary Berry is stick thin.

DJ 2: Exactly. And it certainly doesn’t lead to the sort of partying that results in poor life choices. You know, money problems, problems in the home…

Illustration by David Foldvari.

DJ 1: Neil, I was really hoping we could get through one drivetime without you mentioning domestic violence.

DJ 2: It happens, Tim!

DJ 1: I know.

DJ 2: Do you want me to say it doesn’t happen?!

DJ 1: No, because that would involve mentioning it again.

DJ 2: It’s a terrible world out there.

DJ 1: Yeah, but… you know… Friday!!

DJ 2: Yeah.

DJ 1: Good. So, take it easy on the prosecco, girls. It’s got a higher ABV than you’d think, but nevertheless have a great one.

DJ 2: Just not the sort of great one you look back on with bitterness in a couple of decades when you get cirrhosis of the liver!

DJ 1: We should get that turned into a jingle. Here’s one from Andy in Luton: “At the end of a long week working for a faceless corporation, I intend to make myself feel briefly better by consuming more alcohol than is medically wise, something as ingrained in western European culture as that weird thing that makes the women’s necks all long is with whoever does that…”

DJ 2: That should have gone through Compliance.

DJ 1: “…but I really miss the days when your show used to make that feel normal and positive and like it was how I’d want to live my life. I’m not fulfilled and I like a drink. It’s essential that society has a way to make people like me continue to acquiesce in our existences, and media references to ‘having it large’, ‘chilling’ and ‘having a massive one’ may be a crucial part of what makes that happen. After all, I’ve long since realised I’m never going to stop drinking and follow my dream of becoming a sculptor and it would only harm the economy if I tried. Cheers.”

DJ 2: I’m quite surprised you read all of that out.

DJ 1: It’s for balance. And here’s one from the regulars at the Crown in North… actually let’s go to a song.

DJ 2: I expect the lyrics somehow reinforce the patriarchy.

DJ 1: Here’s hoping.

Radio DJs are suppliers of banal chatter, not health advice on partying | David Mitchell

Victoria Derbyshire State of Grace radio overview

Victoria Derbyshire: handled the programme with ‘careful dignity’. Photograph: Richard Saker for the Observer

Victoria Derbyshire (five Dwell) | iPlayer

State of Grace (Radio 4) | iPlayer

Back in February 2011, on the usually likable if unaccountably vilified – but she is, following all, a female – Victoria Derbyshire morning display, listeners around the nation slowed their vehicles, paused mid-potter, turned up a bit late for lunches. They had been held in thrall by a mobile phone-in on alcoholism, and especially a phone from a physician, Rachel, who admitted quietly on air that she was just cracking open her third can of Guinness that morning.

Derbyshire at some point tracked her down, and she became what’s called a pal of the programme. Each time she spoke, the phones were deluged by calls, reacting to searing tender honesty from a just-working alcoholic and what emerged was a tale of a lot of other professional mothers held in the savage thrall of… properly, either a way of life-selection addiction or an illness, about which there was a lot heated debate. What was undeniable was that the programme assisted move the argument far from the stereotypes of pineapple-nosed meths males, and into the milieu of chintzy (or cosy, or minimalist) middle-class living rooms everywhere, and highlight a hidden nation coping towards hope with each the bottle and full-time jobs – solicitors, managers, anaesthetists. Standard mother’s contact: “I usually try out to seem great, smell wonderful, get the children to school. But I’m just pouring my very first glass of wine of the morning. And I would often felt I was on my very own, special.”

Rachel, final time we heard from her, had been clean, giggling and smart, and signally failing to slurp from a bottle at ten in the morning. Rachel, not her real name, died in her rest in excess of the Easter weekend. She was 45, and left a companion and daughter. She had relapsed, briefly, just ahead of Easter. Derbyshire knew, went to the funeral, but it was only last week that her household made a decision the news must come out. It was a mesmerising programme, featuring callers who said Rachel’s contribution had, in absolutely no tiny way, saved their lives. Tears have been shed. Derbyshire dealt with the whole with the careful dignity it deserved – there was some laughter, but a chilling pall hung more than the programme of needless waste. Crucially, there was no knee-jerk condemnation – we would moved far beyond that – but compassion and sincere, subtle debate, and I only want other morning telephone-in (radio and Television) programmes could deal with related levels of, if you’ll excuse me, sobriety: an impassioned and vital tale.

Grace Dent: identified ‘some superb interviewees’. Photograph: Chris Floyd

Grace Dent had some exciting with her identify in State of Grace – a flimsy ample premise you may well believe, but she actually created it operate. She hardly harped on at all about wishing she’d in childhood had a “normal” title – her choice would have been Joanne, as in the lass from t’Human League – but as an alternative set about resolutely discovering some superb interviewees. She spoke to Olivia “damegrace” Cowley at the Royal Ballet about, simply, grace of motion, and fascinating it was, and quizzed wonderful movie historian Stella Bruzzi on Grace Kelly. Bruzzi came up with the workably non-pat theory that Kelly was hogtied, in her time, among becoming Marilyn Monroe and getting Audrey Hepburn – neither vamp nor ingenue, she was famously described as “also excellent” by James Stewart, which helps clarify his otherwise mesmerising decision to reject her throughout considerably of Rear Window. Best, additional Bruzzi, she was not. She slept with practically all her foremost males, and the list helps make some reading through: Clark Gable, Bing, Ray Milland, William Holden, Oleg Cassini – and was sent shut to panic when Monaco’s courtiers tentatively suggested a test for virginity. A great minor programme, hugely aided all through by the laughing, gallus presence of Grace Maxwell, who nursed Scots singer (and husband) Edwyn Collins back to eventual wellness after his devastating brain haemorrhage, and informed her tale with wit, warts and a thoroughly refreshing lack of mawkishness or self-pity. As, indeed, had Rachel.

Victoria Derbyshire State of Grace radio overview