the military takeover there. we start in the uk, which has seen the biggest day of strike action in more than a decade, according to the unions, with up to half a million people walking out in disputes over pay, jobs and conditions. among those striking are train drivers from the aslef union impacting most train companies across england. bus drivers in london about 100,000 civil servants from over a hundred government departments. thousands of university staff from 150 universities across the uk. and teachers from the national education union. these aerial images show demonstrators marching past the bbc s headquarters in london. 0ur employment correspondent was with them nearby at whitehall. the scale of this. this is the biggest straight for more than a decade. there has been some sort of talk about, could this be the general strike? it is not that. there are unions who have decided not to strike today. it certainly could be a lot bigger. what s interesting is there are un
their senior generals and other security leaders from around the country are very worried that the trend of them losing control of the country will continue throughout 2023. so it is a state of emergency but not for the reasons that they are projecting. it is a state of emergency because the conditions have so deteriorated. the country was plunged into a bitter civil war when three months after aung san suu kyi s party won a huge majority in a general election, myanmar s generals overthrew the government and jailed her. reuters special correspondent for south east asia poppy mcpherson told us what the past two years have been like. they ve got between different groups under a loose coalition of pro democracy movement. the fighting going on and also illustrates from the military. so there have been hundreds and hundreds of military air strikes last year targeting civilian communities as well and so really great hardship across the country. let s take a closer look at some of the statist
education experts warn the strikes are causing further disruptions to pupils education, which hasn t yet recovered from the pandemic. former education secretary david laws called on both sides to meet eachother halfway. in order to try and resolve this dispute we have to have movement on both sides in the negotiation. i think, ultimately, the teachers union would have to accept a ball of inflation. rise this year will be difficult to get out of any government. i think the government also needs to accept that over the last decade, teacher pay has fallen significantly behind inflation. that is causing a real problem with recruitment particular with some subjects like science. they have to get teacher pay back on track to grow in real terms if it s not to add to that recruitment crisis. as we mentioned earlier, wednesday s strikes also involved civil servants, university staff, and bus drivers. train journeys across the uk were disrupted as many train drivers also went on strike.
firm it seemed. are they betting on inflation falling and a fall in public support for the strikes? i think that does appear to be the strategy for now. inflation down and that the unions will tire of strike action and certain members will not like losing pay. that will be the hope. whether that is going to happen or not is incredibly difficult to say. happen or not is incredibly difficult to sa . ., . , , . difficult to say. how much public su ort is difficult to say. how much public support is there difficult to say. how much public support is there despite - difficult to say. how much public support is there despite the - support is there despite the destruction that there seem to many services? school seen the impact not just on children but on parents. it wouldn t be surprised to know that i had a glance about the pulling and you perhaps wouldn t be surprised to know that polling suggests different levels of support depending on who is out on strike. people tend to be more symp
drivers. i think the broader point is the real dangerfor the is the real danger for the government is the real dangerfor the government is coming in that even though most people don t let their lives being disrupted by strikes, the danger for the government is that many people won t buy into the narrative of the unions. it s not just about pay but a sense that britain s vital public services are understaffed, under resourced and overstretched. that feeds into the general picture that you can pick up in pubs are talking to your friends. the sense that nothing is working properly in this country. that is the real dangerfor the properly in this country. that is the real danger for the government. that the industrial unrest feeds into wider unrest and gloom about britain s economic prospects. yesterday, for example, you had the forecast from the imf. i think the danger is everything coming together. danger is everything coming to . ether. danger is everything coming touether. ~ , .,