I paraphrase Bonaparte’s oft-quoted preference to have about him lucky generals rather than clever ones and apply it with enthusiasm to George Osborne who yesterday proved himself the luckiest man in British politics for decades. Almost without any effort on his part his budget day was Christmas Day and birthday all rolled in one! His biggest ‘prezzies’, of course, were the totally unexpected fall in food prices, the amazing drop in oil prices and the plunge in what the Government has to pay for its borrowed money. All of this has allowed him to hand out not insignificant baubles, bangles and beads to an electorate which is now dimly aware that they are indeed emerging from the ‘austerity’ – which of course never really existed in the first place! – into a time of rising living standards. Not the least of the pleasures to be derived from this happy state of affairs is that it leaves Labour marooned and with nothing better to do than wander the High Streets of the land during the forthcoming election campaign waving their placards bearing the immortal words, “The end of the wold is nigh!” Because people are, on the whole, fairly happy, they will be treated with pitying kindness, I'm sure!
Even so, there are, as always, some ‘SHLOCK-HORRORS’ approaching over the horizon some of which may hit before election day and thus ‘frighten the horses’. I believe that this Friday Greece will officially go broke which will merely confirm what everybody has known for years. There will be further ructions in Europe where ‘Juncker the Drunker’ is squaring up to the ‘Kaiserin’ – good luck with that one, Jean-Claude! If Europe goes into a spin then even ‘Dim Dave’ will see the advantage of playing up his referendum credentials. More tricky to work out is the determination of Mrs. Yellen, the boss of the Federal Reserve, to raise American interest rates. That will instantly impinge on all those unbelievably huge dollar loans taken out by semi-private/semi-public organisations in Asia. It could make a tsunami look mild! But a little fright, especially a foreign fright, before the election will, like ‘a hanging in the morning, concentrate minds wonderfully’ and thus the British electorate might be more inclined to follow that excellent advice “Always keep a-hold of nurse, For fear of finding something worse”.