In It For The Long Haul

Which is more surprising to watch?  Two men locked in unprecedented sporting combat in front of a disbelieving crowd, or two men locked in unprecedented political agreement in front of a disbelieving crowd? 

The Mahut-Isner match today (and yesterday....and tomorrow) is set to become a set question in pub quizzes for years to come.  Last year's Federer-Roddick match was enough to make anyone reach for their fingernails, but today's record-buster had me braving the depths of an old rucksack in the hope of finding a bit of Kendall's mint cake left over from that trip to Fort William some time before the kids were born.

Today's Wimbledon may have provided us with a marvellous spectacle of endurance, but there was very little sense of heart-stopping, winner-takes-it-all competition.  No murderous tribalism in the crowd.  Just an appreciation of two brave souls locked together in a piece of history, with tennis the ultimate winner. (I think I'd better give sport a miss tomorrow.  I'm coming over all cliches and sentimentality.)

The media, of course, is trying to create a partisan feud story on the back of the Budget.  The Montagues and Capulets in this contrived drama are the public and private sectors, and tonight we saw a dress rehearsal, courtesy of the BBC.  Well, you might have.  I was busy with my mint cake and my musings on whether Tim Henman is, in fact, the third Miliband.  I only caught a clip of "An Audience with Dave and Nick" on the news.

That clip showed Cameron and Clegg giving us the full Chuckle Brothers routine ("To me, to you"), fervently, unitedly defending a Budget which seemed to me to biff the rich, inconvenience most earners and discourage welfare dependency as a lifestyle choice.  But it also acknowledged the need for an incentive to work, acknowledged that lower paid workers may need a straightforward benefits bonus to be able to stay in work, and that small businesses - essential in Wales - need to be financially stable so that they can provide that work.

It's not, as the BBC audience in the news clip seemed to suggest, a crazed attack on the public sector.  There are some nutty and pointless jobs financed by the taxpayer, and they should just go.  But the majority of public sector jobs are valuable, including some in the backroom.  Where I have a problem is when I hear that the deficit isn't the fault of the teaching assistant, the paramedic or the social worker, so why are they punished for the greed of the banks? And the policies of Gordon Brown, I add, sotto voce.

Well, the shop assistant, the cleaner and plasterer weren't responsible for the deficit either.  In rural Wales especially, private sector workers have had poorer pay, conditions and job security than their public sector neighbours.   And while George Osborne gave us all due notice that "we are all in this together", many private sector workers were all in this together a lot sooner than others.  When the Chancellor confirmed last month that some government departments would have to anticipate significant budget cuts, my Whitehall butty opined that he didn't care what Osborne did as long as he left his pension alone.  He didn't seem to realise that many private sector workers don't even have a pension, let alone one with employer contributions.

Now, before this turns into a whine, and I play right into the Beeb's hands, let's be clear what I'm saying.  We are all in this together.  Like Cameron and Clegg, we have got to put our sense of grievance to one side, and get on the same side.  The public and private sectors are not at war with each other.  Our common enemy is the Labour legacy, and both sectors need to co-operate willingly to overcome that enemy. 

Two brave sectors locked together in a piece of history, with Britain the ultimate winner.