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Firefighters' strike is just

Police in uniform being drafted in to break the firefighters' strike should beggar belief, but in Con-Dem Britain they don't

Revelations that police in uniform have been drafted in to break the firefighters' strike should beggar belief, but in Con-Dem Britain they don't.

It comes to something when emergency services are pitted against each other while the government sits on its hands rather than address the very real concerns of people undertaking some of the most dangerous and admirable jobs in the country.

How much money is being squandered on police overtime, and how many crimes are going uninvestigated due to this policy?

The macho posturing being directed at the emergency services, alongside every other crucial public service worker, is a reflection of this government's complete ignorance of the role that they play.

It is apparently oblivious to the huge public respect in which firefighters are held.

In the Tories' eyes, though, they are just another faceless front in the war on the public sector. Given the right's direction of travel one cannot help but think that the ultimate prize will be the wholesale privatisation of the service if the Conservatives get re-elected in 2015.

The union's case in this dispute is clear and just.

This heartless government sees earlier retirement as a treat to be stripped under the auspices of its austerity programme.

Yet firefighters are awarded an earlier pension than most because of the unique and punishing nature of the work that they do.

From bombs to fires to disasters these people are on the front line of some of the most gruelling and distressing situations imaginable.

In physical and psychological terms such work takes its toll.

Just hearing the stories of those on the picket lines - removing charred bodies from burnt-out buildings or cutting mangled bodies from car crashes - would be gruelling enough for most of us.

Yet under the Con-Dem changes pensions will be paid out later, long after many firefighters are unable to continue front-line duties.

That will leave them with a choice - leave the service or be found unfit to work and be kicked out. In both cases they will face a lesser pension or a long wait to receive one.

Ministers should get off their hands, do a deal and stop punishing vital public servants.

The Police Federation, too, should be seriously considering its response to demands that its members scab on their emergency service colleagues in order to help force down conditions.

 

Health warning

GPs in England warned yesterday of a big slump in cash making its way into their budgets.

This should sound warning bells for those who have been following the news in the past week.

One day we hear that there's nothing to fear because David Cameron is "personally" overseeing NHS preparations in advance of an expected winter A&E crisis.

The next we hear that the walk-in clinics designed to bridge the gap between GPs and slashed A&E departments are being closed at a rate of knots - one in four in the past two years.

Now we hear warnings from GPs that funding has been cut to the lowest on record.

Do you spot a pattern here?

The crazed "reforms" of the service are coinciding with a £20 billion cuts programme that's led to wild and unco-ordinated hacking by local NHS commissioners.

Given the role of the Tory government in driving through this chaos, we should be more concerned than reassured by news that his hands are gripped tightly around health service planning as Christmas approaches.

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