Yes, I know, 'it's being so cheeful wot keeps me so young' and all that sort of thing. But I am not alone in imitating the inimitable Pte. Fraser of Dad's Army. Liam Halligan in The Telegraph does it much better than me so all I can do is add my own emphases:
Spending and borrowing are soaring, with the UK’s national debt – which we must service and then repay – now standing at £1,410bn, almost £40,000 for each taxpayer and twice what is was when the Tories took office in 2010. Osborne’s emergency budget of that year said that, by 2014/15, annual borrowing would be £60bn. On last week’s figures we’re instead looking at adding at least £100bn to the national debt in the current fiscal year, just as we have under each year of Conservative government.
From recent photos of a particularly smug and slim George Osborne it looks as though the only thing he has managed to cut is his daily intake of cakes and puds. Well, to be fair, he did take a mighty swipe out of the defence budget and with the impeccable timing one expects from ministers these days, our national security committee has just raised the threat level and his dimwitted boss is now spluttering about taking action against ISIS - with what, exactly, Prime Minister, and who is going to pay?
In the meantime, that dark, scowly Canadian who runs the BoE keeps threatening to raise interest rates but then keeps changing his mind. So, like an out of control locomotive, we race on into a dark tunnel under a head of steam produced by cheap borrowed money and even cheaper printed money. Apart from defence, the remainder of government continues its inexorable swelling. But ahead of us there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Unfortunately it's an approaching train! Either it will be the Scottish Referendum Express, or, the European Gravy Train, or, possibly, the Putin Puffer which has over-run its Ukrainian station, or, maybe, the Miliband Magical Motion Machine which runs entirely on hot air.
Whatever, this Tory government has utterly failed in its prime duty to defend the economy. Er, have a nice day!
