... proof that that government is right ...

Government officials have pointed out that immediately the firemen went out on strike the number of call outs reduced - and the number of fires reduced. This could not possibly be the result of the public taking greater care - I know - I know - they should do anyway - and the fact that the period of the strike was held in particularly wet and miserable weather - meaning that fire is less likely to start.

The strike finishes - a fully functional fire brigade is working - and low and behold - the is a massive fire in Edinburgh - seriously damaging fourteen large buildings in the old town - and losing the fringe festival one of its most important venues - the standup comedy industry will be severely harmed by this disaster.

If the government's logic holds - that we need less fireman - and we need less fireman at nights - based on the figures of an 8 day strike - rather than looking at the figures over many years - then the logic is - that there is some link between the numbers of fireman - and the number of fires - therefore if the strike had continued - the fire in Edinburgh - would either not have happened - or would have been minor.

In reality the Edinburgh fire demonstrates why we need a well manned and motivated fire service. They need the manpower - equipment - and they need the motivation - and the team spirit - to deal with serious fires - when they happen. This incident would have been a lot more serious if troops were trying to deal with - as they don't have the expertise - and there is the possibility that a large area of Edinburgh could have been destroyed - and possibly lives lost - as this area - contained a lot of clubs - pubs - and restaurants.

As it is there was only one casualty - and that was a fireman - which also demonstrates that the job is dangerous - the spurious charts of some newspapers showing that as a percentage - fireman die on duty - less than some other groups of workers - is spurious - the figures ignored injuries - or the fact that the low causalities reflect - training - good procedures - and the fact that there is enough manpower on call to sort out most problems.

Within a year it is highly probable that Al Qaeda will attempt to perform a serious terrorist attack on this country. The people sorting out the mess will be the fire brigade. Lets be rational and negotiate a fair pay settlement - possibly with some modernisation - efficiencies - but let's not cut the manpower available to deal with a fire 24 hours a day. To me 48 hours seems a long enough time to work in a week.

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