Elephant Traps
The public sector pensions row rumbles on - hyped up by the fact that Unison's annual delegate conferenece is taking place in Manchester at the moment.
Ed Balls waded in yesterday with an odd comment - in which he warned the unions not to go down the road of strike action - because this would lead them straight into a government trap.
Now I thought this was bonkers at the time.
But the two people who convinced me I was right - were Dave Prentis, Unison's general secretary - and John Hutton, former Labour Minister and author of the present government's pension reforms.
In TV interviews yesterday, both said - in different ways - that Ed was talking through a hole in his hat.
Dave Prentis is a paid-up, long time member of the Labour party - who knows exactly what he's doing - he doesn't need patronising comments or advice from the Labour shadow chancellor.
Whether Dave is doing the right thing is - of course - an entirely different matter.
For example, we don't even know whether Dave - and his fellow union leaders - are in favour of 'final salary' pension schemes.
Which benefit the better paid - and are subsidised by the lower paid union members.
If the strike goes ahead - maybe we'll find out.
Ed Balls waded in yesterday with an odd comment - in which he warned the unions not to go down the road of strike action - because this would lead them straight into a government trap.
Now I thought this was bonkers at the time.
But the two people who convinced me I was right - were Dave Prentis, Unison's general secretary - and John Hutton, former Labour Minister and author of the present government's pension reforms.
In TV interviews yesterday, both said - in different ways - that Ed was talking through a hole in his hat.
Dave Prentis is a paid-up, long time member of the Labour party - who knows exactly what he's doing - he doesn't need patronising comments or advice from the Labour shadow chancellor.
Whether Dave is doing the right thing is - of course - an entirely different matter.
For example, we don't even know whether Dave - and his fellow union leaders - are in favour of 'final salary' pension schemes.
Which benefit the better paid - and are subsidised by the lower paid union members.
If the strike goes ahead - maybe we'll find out.
