The budget: thumbs up or thumbs down?

[policywonk]

Interested in seeing what the MN consensus is (if we can reach such a thing)

For me: thumbs up, on balance, despite not enough Hot Low-Carbon Action

David Cameron summed it all up pretty well. I am not a fan of his, but he expressed the frustration with this bunch of incompetents who simply cannot help but spin, spin, spin. And we are all the poor buggers whose children will pay for it all... First opportunity I shall encourage my children to go to Uni overseas and not come back.

down. Never heard such a load of twaddle in my life. The numbers are so way out in terms of forecasts.

But then Im thoroughly pissed off as I fall into the 1%

Thumbs down

Down and I am with MrsGuy, I will be encouraging my DCs to move abroad. Why should they have to pay for this mess? It is so unfair.

down

But where will you encourage your children to settle? What country is without it's problems? Actually scandinavia is starting to look very attractive, though those winters would kill.

A,bivalent mainly as can't see much to affect us but generally, if pushed, up

LeninGrad, in that case I'd be making my own, or building my own still and making moonshine

....it seems something of a non-event to me.

So my reaction can be summed up thus:

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

....which is a trifle odd, as in dramatic financial times a dramatic budget might be expected. It seems like a whole lot of not much....

I'm a bit the same retiredgoth... It used to be "waaaaay" (that's cheers to you and me) when the duty on booze stayed the same and "booo" when the duty on fags went up, but these days I don't do either so I'm a bit "meh"

I dunno, why, what happened?

tuck in LeninGrad Hmmmm not likely to give you a headache at all

From the brief amount I have seen so far - down

MrsGuy/CrackFox: isn't it the case that the UK's levels of debt, in international terms, are low? Cameron sounded like an idiot to me (but then I don't like him anyway).

As for Goth and Fairy - dull?? Tsk.

£1 billion new money for housing
£7.8 billion for low-carbon initiatives (about one-tenth of what most green groups reckon was required, but with some welcome elements - offshore wind, combined heat-and-power schemes), and the world's first-ever carbon budget
Nonsensical car scrappage scheme
Maintenance of the development aid budget despite predicted cuts
Notable action on tax havens and tax avoidance (although, again, more could have been done)
Increase in ISA limits as Lenin says
Increased fuel allowance for pensioners and 2.5 per cent increase in state pension
PLUS taxing the rich until they squeal

It wasn't DULL

I gain out of it, slightly. The additional tax on drink and cigarettes doesn't affect me. I lose out with fuel tax, but more than gain that back in tax and NI and in child benefit.

It's a fairly nondescript budget as far as I'm concerned.

Here's what Oxfam made of it

£14.5 billion for ID cards - shit. (Nearly twice what they're spending on development aid next year.)

X posted

I should be over the moon with the extra money for housing - I'm one of those people stuck in unsuitable social housing, BUT it won't get used in an area that will help me. All the new builds (affordable housing that is, there's no social housing being built) are 1 and 2 bedroom despite the fact that it's the family housing that was sold off in the 80's and 90's that needs replacing. I can't afford 'affordable' housing anyway, neither can an awful lot of people in my position.

That's interesting serenity. Is that based on what was announced today?

HF shuffles in an embarressed manner as she's actually at work at the BBC and should know all of this I'm off to watch the 6 o'clock news!

can't find anything on arts funding yet so am withholding judgment

think the extra tax is good, think the isa thing is good, thing the extra money for housing is good.