Nurses in England are on weaker ground with new strikes – and ministers know it

The health secretary, Steve Barclay, and Rishi Sunak are gambling that nurses’ appetite for a fight is waning – and ballot results back them upEveryone loves nurses, don’t they? They are near the top of the list of the nation’s most admired and trusted workers. They inspired a TV drama called Angels. And when they were striking in December, January and February, they were the NHS staff group the health secretary, Steve Barclay, most wanted to make peace with.But since the