OMG (Cont)

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2010

OMG (Cont)

So.

The first January fiscal deficit since the Black Death. The month when all those lovely Corporation Tax payments, and all those lovely self-assessment income tax cheques are supposed to come in, has instead turned into the Black Hole of Death.

Tyler's back-of-envelope says that we're now on course for 2009-10 total borrowing of £180-185bn, compared to Darling's latest forecast of £178bn. 

Well, that's not so bad, you say. Only another few bill. Hardly the Black Hole of Death.

Which just about says it all - we are now so used to fiscal meltdown, even borrowing in January can't shock us.

I've just watched Prof "Happiness" Blanchflower on C4 News telling us once again why we should just carry on borrowing. Apparently the government can spend and borrow us back to prosperity. And the alarming thing is that a lot of normally quite sensible people are still saying exactly the same thing. 

I'm currently taking another long look at our debt history to see if I've missed something. Blog to follow.

£8.6m Defra Blood-Boiler

Right, deep breaths...

As you will know, Labour have turned HMG into the UK's biggest advertiser -£540m in 2008-09 -  and these Defra ads are absolutely par for the course.

Meanwhile BOM reader Ian and Beverley D have been keeping a count of the HMG ads they've heard on Heart FM. They only listen for a few minutes when they first wake up, but in a recent two week period they heard ads for:
Metropolitan Police – Community Support Officers

Health and Safety Executive – Safe Loading of Vans

NHS – MMR vaccinations

Jobcentre Plus – Help with your job search

Directgov.co.uk – Visit our Graduate Talent Pool website

Department for Transport – Fasten your seatbelt

Revenue and Customs – Pay your tax online

Directgov.co.uk – Help with pensions

Directgov.co.uk – Eat less salt

Department for Transport? – Drive carefully

Home Office – Let’s keep crime down

Ian writes:

"Many of these have been on several times. This is in addition to the many adverts on TV too - for example suggesting that we mind our speed and start driving shorter distances.

It annoys me that my taxes are being used to lecture me about how I manage my life in general. But the radio ad that takes the biscuit is the Community Support Officer ad by the Met Police. It simply states what a great idea they are!"

So that's another £540m pa for the savings pot.

And we will be very upset indeed if these ads or similar stay on the air after May.