The message from union leaders at a Mirror summit was heartfelt and clear: their members need a pay rise.
An analysis by the TUC shows workers have lost, on average, £76 a month in the past year as inflation outpaces wage growth.
This squeeze follows more than a decade of falling pay for public sector workers.
Teachers’ real-terms pay is down 9% since 2010, while nurses’ has fallen by 8%.
This is the reason so many people have resorted to industrial action.
They have been driven to this situation because they cannot afford to feed their families, pay their rent and heat their homes.
They are the victims of a Tory government that has turned its back on teachers, transport workers and nurses and, by extension, on their pupils, passengers and patients.
People are striking out of desperation. They are not to blame for the disruption.
The fault rests with a Government that has taken workers for granted – all while it cut taxes for bankers and hedge funds.
Kick the habit
In the 1970s nearly half of adults in Britain smoked. That figure is now fewer than one in eight, a good reduction but still some six million people.
When smoking remains the single largest cause of preventable death, every effort should be made to help more people quit.
This should include looking at New Zealand, which has become the first country to introduce an annually rising smoking age.
In NZ it will be illegal to sell tobacco to anyone born after January 1, 2009.
Such a move may be controversial but anything that helps save lives and ease pressure on the NHS should be considered.
World class
It is not the just the British teams who did their countries proud at the World Cup.
For the first time in the tournament’s history, not a single English or Welsh fan was arrested.
That’s a result worth celebrating.
