I remember the great Scottish Folk Singer Dick Gaughan saying during the miner's strike that he and his dad were talking and they could not remember a single time where any government had said a strike was justified. Governments of any persuasion always trot out the line about any strike hurting the old folk, children etc but fail to realise that they couldn't give a monkeys about those groups at any other time. The firemen deserve all they've asked for.