Awaiting the deluge

Yesterday they tried to soften us up in the papers - Cameron all doom and gloom, Clegg not denying the scale of the cuts but promising no return to the sink-or-swim policies of the 80s. Keeping his members onside, or a gloss on the policy? "Progressive cuts" sounds incredible, but "intelligent cuts" may actually be the fall-back position.

So today comes Cameron's speech. The cuts will change the British way of life. There is talk of following the Canadian method of 20% across-the-board reductions. Then it is explained that the Canadians used a reform minister to rethink what government should do, and there is mention of public consultation so that we too are involved/implicated in the infliction of pain.