Larry Elliot in today's Guardian explains the Government's cunning plan to get the economy growing by cutting everything in sight. No-one I've heard or read, anywhere - including the Posh Boys themsleves - seems to have the faintest idea how this is supposed to work.
The answer, of course, is that it isn't. As you listen to the daily drip drip drip - should we call them the Three Drips? - of Government announcements you realise that most of them are being introduced with no economic justification whatsoever. The Tories are simply seizing on the excuse of the recession and the deficit to rush through a series of ideologically driven changes that not even Margaret Thatcher managed to force on us in the 1980s; see Gary Younge, on the opposite page of today's Guardian, for an analysis of this.
The Tories are embarking on an orgy of destruction, driven by an urge to demolish anything that could be to the credit or benefit of their political opponents, or anyone else that gets in their way. They need no justification - they're on a mission. So social services, children's services, health, education, pensions, the arts - all are hacked back. Investment dries up, jobs disappear, homes and schools don't get built. VAT is going up and wages are capped, so consumer spending will fall, and businesses big and small will fail. Meanwhile, we are confidently told, voluntary groups will plug the gaps. Without funding, of course. Cameron's "big society" is truly a Very Big Hypocrisy.
And the "Liberal Democrats" are poodling along in their wake, dazzled by being allowed to carry the odd portfolio, happy enough to squeeze into the occasional photo opportunity. For how much longer? Norman, where's that loaf?
NB: for Cunning Stunts, see this article on Spoonerisms; for cunning plans, see this one on Blackadder.
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