This country like most of the world is in the grip of the worst financial crisis in living memory and a crisis that, showing no sign of abating, could well prove to be the worst in the history of the West. It seems that all economists and politicians, irrespective of their allegiances, agree that we will all have to continue to tighten our belts and take some pretty serious medicine if the country is to have any chance of pulling through.
Many in the private sector have experienced loss of business, loss of income and a general fall in living standards. Perhaps most worrying of all, they have seen their pension policies, upon which they have planned their retirement after years of hard work, dramatically collapse in value so that many of those policies are virtually worthless. The public sector are out on strike today because they don’t like what is happening in the world and they don’t like what is happening to their pension policies.

Let’s face it, none of us like what is happening in the world but we have no choice in the matter. We simply have to endure it and hope that we can all pull through as unscathed as possible. The public sector (unlike the private) are striking because they can. They are also striking because they are misguided and because they believe, erroneously, that they should be immune to what is happening to the rest of us. They need to join the real world. Times are hard and we have to adjust accordingly. Striking will only make matters worse.