That is why the public ought to be confused by the mixed message from union activists urging their council employee colleagues on to the picket lines today for what is billed as the biggest bout of industrial unrest seen in the UK for years.

They argue forcibly that low paid town hall workers are suffering because of the poor pay levels received from their council masters. But that represents only a fraction of the workforce. And they make no mention of the extra £100 a year offered by employers to those on lower grades.

Neither is it wholly true that the Government 'doesn't set local authority workers' pay', as a spokesman for the Prime Minister is quick to point out. Everyone knows that central government is obsessive about the controls it exerts on local authorities, including keeping pay levels in check.

The truth lies somewhere between the contradictions and half truths: this is a return to the bad old days of unions testing their strength against a disconnected Government. And, as ever, the public is to pay the price.

Fight the cause not the symptom
WHILE in no manner do we offer support to the racist roots of the British National Party, we cannot help but feel that pressure exerted to bring about the cancellation of a rally by the party is attacking its symptoms rather than the causes.

Mainstream parties simply play into the hands of the extremists by encouraging the kind of atmosphere which marginalises them, causing would-be supporters' curiosity to increase.

Instead, they should prove to the public that there is no foundation in the fears which are driving them to support right wing extremist views. That is where the cure to this political pollution is to be found.

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