I was reading an article on the BBC site about the firefighter's strike which includes the quote pour discourager les autres. This is interesting because I think the author meant pour decourager les autres. I'm not claiming my knowledge of French is even slightly above minimal, I have an O level from a long time ago, but Google reassures me on this. The original quote, which was, I'm sure, being knowingly referred to is pour encourager les autres. Applicable in many situations when a punishment far heavier than is warranted by the offense is imposed in a politically motivated, and fairly cynical, attempt to prevent others committing the same offense, and to deflect blame.

The original quote is by Voltaire in Candide

Dans ce pay-ci, il est bon de tuer de temps en temps un amiral pour encourager les autres.
In this country it is good to kill an admiral from time to time, to encourage the others.

He's referring to the execution of Admiral John Byng in England in 1757. Sent in 1756 to prevent the French from taking Minorca, he arrived when the island was already under siege and, after an indecisive naval engagement, withdrew without relieving the siege. He was court-martialed and executed for "failure to do his utmost". This brought charges that he had been used as a scapegoat for ministerial failure. On his tombstone it says "bravery and loyalty were insufficient securities for the life and honour of a naval officer".

I sort of got carried away with this post. I knew the original quote and vaguely what the story behind it was but it's interesting how easy it is to find things out on the web. I'm sure I don't have any books at home that mention Admiral Byng at all, so doing this a few years ago would have involved many trips to the library; which, though fun in themselves, can be a bit time consuming.