40 per cent was a negotiating bid. If you just ask for the most you can hope to get you won't get it. They'll settle for less than that.

The bundle of "reforms" being slapped on the table include a mixture of things, some of which should be negotiable, and some of them things which if they were accepted by the firemen would mean we had a worse service. No doubt there's a bit of bargaining strategy on the other side as well, demands that can be dropped. Unless the government actually is determined to do a Thatcher-job on the union, and force a strike as part of it, relying on their knowledge that the firemen hate the idea of staying out on strike and seeing people die.

When I hear people talking about "the right to manage" that sets off alarm bells. I've heard it too often from managers who've got the title and the pay that goes with it, but haven't got the beginning of understanding of how to actually get the best out of the organisations they manage. Hell, I was a social worker for twenty years, we know about managers...

I'm not interested in "the right to manage", I'm interested in getting the best possible fire service, and happy to pay my share of what it takes to achieve that.