FIREFIGHTERS are lacking in patriotism by defending their pay and conditions of service, and the right of the community to a well-motivated and efficient public service; according, that is, to some politicians and some sections of the media.

What is it, this "patriotism", this new-found love of the fatherland sadly lacking in British firefighters? Can it be that noble spirit under whose influence members of the British aristocracy bought shares in the Krupps (German) arms manufacturers prior to the First World War, and under whose influence millions of men and boy soldiers (children, that is) went to their deaths, a tragedy which in turn led to the Second World War? Or can it be that heart-throbbing sentiment which recently prompted a nation to vote as national hero, a member of the said aristocracy, the person who, in 1921, in his capacity as Colonial Secretary, wrote in an official communication about the Iraqis "I am strongly in favour of using poison gas on uncivilised tribes".

Mr Gilchrist, of the Fire Brigades Union, has also been accused of making the FBU's dispute "political" because he criticised the priorities of this laughingly-named "Labour" Government, one whose priority is not funding the public services, but effectively putting British citizens in danger of terrorist attack through submission to a doctrine, about which Scott Ritter (former US Marine corps intelligence officer and UN Weapons inspector) says "This new Bush doctrine of American unilateralism reeks of imperial power".

The word "politic" is derived from the Greek for "citizens", and it is they who (should a Manchester city centre bomb attack, or an Edinburgh city centre fire, take place at three in the morning) will have to wait not three minutes as at present, but up to 15 minutes or more, for the requisite number of personnel to be made up under what is known as closing-up procedure; such will be the grim reality if Jeremy Beecham of the Local Government Association is allowed to get his way. I quote him: " ... too many firefighters work in city centres at night, where buildings are built to high safety standards and are usually empty". Let him tell that to the people who live in the Arndale Centre, or to the person who has invested his life's savings in a small business in the market place.

William Kelly

(Out of Trade Member of the FBU)

Darley Street

Farnworth