The Friday Joke - There can only be one - The Budget that wasn't a Budget!

 I don't do this normally, but can we really avoid it. On Monday, we had a budget that wasn't a budget, to lift us out of a recession, that it turns out wasn't actually a recession, that has given a huge tax cut to people on a million £ a year, as apparently they need help with their energy bills. It turns out that the Chancellor Kwasi Karteng didn't get a report on the likely effects of the budget from the office of budget responsibiliy, which to my mind, sounds a little bit irresponsible. He is now having a meeting with them today, presumably to discuss ways to shut the gate, now the horse has bolted. If like me, you listen to BBC local radio, you will be aware that the Prime Minister Liz Truss emerged from her hiding place to do a series of interviews with BBC local radio stations yesterday. Presumably, she assumed that hacks on local stations would be less well informed and aggressive than the likes of Peston. A big mistake. Local radio is largely made up of up and coming presenters, who want to make a name for themselves and get a shot at something bigger and better. They know that Truss wouldn't be coming back, so they had a free hit to try and get a few extra points on their CV. They took the opportunity with both hands and she got a series of right pastings and questions that even Peston would have been cautious of asking. 

The whole thing reminds me of a mate of mine who ended up in hospital after crashing a motorbike he'd spent two years building on his first ride out. When I went to see him, he was in plaster almost from head to toe, having broken almost every bone in his body. I asked him what went wrong. He replied that he'd got the bike's engine running and in his excitement to give it a spin, he'd forgotten to properly connect up the brakes. Kwarteng has done the same thing. The Office for Budget Responsibility is in effect the brakes for bad policies. When you are zooming down the road, you don't think about the brakes, but when a tree looms in front of you, as you need to go around the corner, you suddenly realise that checking that the brakes are properly working is a highly sensible measure before you open up to full throttle. 

For a moment, I thought to myself "How could we be so stupid as to elect a Prime Minister with a manifesto for such stupid policies". Then I remembered that we didn't. A small committee sacked the bloke we elected, who had completely different policies. 

Viva Democracy !