Yes, of course, you did cover that point, apologies for stating otherwise. What I was trying to look at was the broader role of the union movement in disabling resistance and keeping their members in such a state of confusion that they can't organise. I think you're on the money regarding the extent to which the SIPTU leadership have degraded themselves by cut-and-pasting Labour party press releases. I'm sure not a few SIPTU members are asking why they're being bombarded with Labour propoganda when there is a diversity of opinion within the union and while Labour have made no secret of their determination to reduce the deficet to 3%..
Re: the deference to authority. Well, yes, that's a companion to the self-congratulation I was referring to. There is a 'get-out' clause for the austerity agenda in that we did vote for the convergence criteria as part of the Maastricht Treaty. So, the 'authority' figures, such as Olli Rehn, are only keeping us to what we agreed to, in a manner of speaking. That each of the treaty referena campaigns were undemocratic stitch-ups is another matter entirely.....