Public pay talks ‘like a bad western’

WESTERN fans (don’t switch over) will remember the scene from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly where the character Tuco is in his bath and an old adversary comes to kill him. The hapless assailant begins a monologue about how long he’s waited to kill Tuco. As he reaches the crescendo of his speech, Tuco shoots him with a concealed gun and utters the immortal line: “When you have to shoot, shoot. Don’t talk”.

The Government should take inspiration from Tuco – it won’t, but it should. The current miserable stalemate over the public pay and reform agreement suggests two tired old assailants unable to pull their respective triggers.

The unions know they won’t get support from their members for an all-out strike.