I haven’t said anything about

I haven’t said anything about the current fire brigade strike yet, although I’m sure you can guess my opinions.
However, what is really cheesing me off at the moment is the way that some sections of the media, and particularly BBC TV news (much less so online), keep going on about how inadequate the Army’s “Green Goddess” fire engines are. I’m sorry, but that is total rubbish. Clearly they are not going to have the same kit that a modern engine has, but they are excellent tools – the average age of the fleet might be 50 years, but the average mileage on the clock is just 300. Of the Army’s fleet, all but one is in perfect working order. They have all-wheel drive, a feature that regular fire engines do not possess. And, as any resident of Chichester who escaped the floods of the last few years will tell you, they are extremely effective and you’d be bloody glad to see one when you needed one!
Additionally, the retained (part-time) firefighters are still working, with their full training and modern kit. And there are RAF and Royal Navy crews with the very latest kit too.
I honestly think that a lot of this media coverage is the result of FBU spin doctors, trying to make out that we can’t survive without firemen, inflating their own self worth.
Oh, and for my next rant: the firemen have a legal right to strike, fair enough, but why does that mean that the fire appliances, owned by the local authority and paid for out of our taxes, have to be left locked in the stations?