Sir, - What new word is this that is being dragged into the dictionary of industrial relations? "Imaginative"? Almost every time now that some group wants a pay increase its spokesmen demand an imaginative approach, leading to an imaginative resolution of the dispute. What is wrong with imaginary?
Who more imaginative than the Garda? Indeed, it is sometimes said that its members tend towards the imaginary. They imagined themselves simultaneously and pandemically infected with an imaginary 'flu that, curiously, had the colour of the movies and language that respectable adults avoid. Now these imaginative people want an imaginative approach to making a computer system an imaginative excuse for an increase in pay. This seems to boil down to an imaginary adherence to public pay guidelines, which themselves may be as imaginary as they are imaginative.
Here is a safe bet: Uniform pockets will be lined with extra pounds that, however imaginative, will be anything but imaginary. - Yours, etc., Frank Farrell,
Lakelands Close, Stillorgan, Co Dublin.