"Deal would add 21p a week to council tax" - that's a link to a story in today's Guardian (rather than posting the whole story here.

The deal concerned is the 16% which the Fire Brigade Union have indicated they would accept, and which the employers (local government) appear to be willing to go along with, and which would have stopped the strike, and cleared the way for constructive talks about ways of improving the Fire Service; but the Government has scuppered it.

That's not 21p on the rate of council tax - it's 21 pennies. Threepence a day. I don't think there are that many people who'd begrudge that.

The story also includes a mention of some of the modernisation proposals the firefighters would like to see introduced - such as creches, to help women with babies work in the service, and separate showers for female crew members.

The cost of the strike is likely to be far far higher than the cost of the 16% deal. And that is just in terms of money.