| Grooming row 'takes the biscuit' The husband of a dinner lady who was warned that allowing a child a biscuit could be seen as grooming said she has had a "horrendous two years". bbc.co.uk |
Natasha Kaplinsky to quit Channel 5 Natasha Kaplinsky is to leave her six-figure job as a newsreader at Channel 5 at the end of the year, having spent much of her three years at the broadcaster on maternity leave. telegraph.co.uk |
Killer's tactics The meticulous plan that led to the death of a radio host bbc.co.uk |
Renewable energy plan under fire The public accounts watchdog criticises the UK's "unacceptably slow" progress towards meeting its renewable energy targets. bbc.co.uk |
Economy: known unknowns | Editorial Despite George Osborne's statement that the government will 'stick to the course', a rewrite could still prove necessaryMany a parliamentary speech is made for the sake of form, but it is rare for a minister to stand at the dispatch box and admit they are simply going through the motions. Yesterday George Osborne effectively did that, formally announcing he would "stick to the course" and leave tax and spending well alone, in a statement which fulfilled a legal requirement for a pre-budget report, a requirement which this laissez-faire chancellor is in the process of abolishing.After May's cuts package came June's "emergency" budget and then the spending review, so the country can be grateful to have been spared another spoon of Mr Osborne's bitter medicine. Much of the country will also, it must be admitted, feel relief at the passing of Gordon Brown's insistence on presenting two set pieces of fiscal theatre each and every year, whether or not the circumstances required them. But any hopes that Mr Osborne might lead the Treasury away from Brownian spin are fading. Yesterday's forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility – the new body expressly designed to take the politics out of economic prediction – found their way into the weekend press.Mr Osborne seized on the sunnier spots in the OBR's analysis to justify his stance of doing nothing new. A more comprehensive appraisal of the boffins' report would have acknowledged that the somewhat higher growth for this year is the corollary of a more sluggish recovery over the following two. The big reduction in projected public sector redundancies since the summer, meanwhile, has been bought at the price of benefit cuts, cuts which will not merely punish the poorest but also threaten the rest, by draining demand from the economy.Mr Osborne has an unmistakable way of looking satisfied, and his evident contentment with the OBR's verdict was understandable – its broad-brush reiteration of the budget's arithmetic helps in presenting his fiscal plans as set in stone, avoiding the early rewrite that a shift in the numbers would have required. A rewrite, however, could still prove necessary, for this is a world in which stuff happens.The OBR's Robert Chote went out of his way to stress the uncertainties. For all the fiendish complexities, at heart forecasting is the art of the ruler: straight lines reconnect a depressed present with a trend extrapolated from a happier past. Thus business investment – which has sunk like a stone – is now predicted to surge. Perhaps it will. If so, the wider economy may dodge the axe being flung at the state. But perhaps business will falter. If so, Mr Osborne will learn the lesson being absorbed by those early cutters in Dublin whom he once admired. Namely, that writing pain into the start of his story does not guarantee a happy ending.Economic policyGeorge OsborneEconomicsOffice for Budget ResponsibilityConservativesTax and spendingHouse of Commonsguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |