Budget 2010: Wonderful dressing, Darling

Notes from the Budget: Alistair Darling does it very well. I've sat through many, and he delivers clearly, directly, smoothly.

He's not pompous, or fumbling. There are no stagey props like glasses of Scotch or Pennine water nearby, for grandstanding. It was neither too long, nor too short. He's more like an accountant than a politician, and that is a compliment. However, it was probably the most political Budget in years. Nothing that could be of any use to the Opposition or the electorate was given away, and other people's good ideas were shamelessly morphed into Labour creations. It was heavy on global macro economic explanation (‘It's not our fault, everyone has suffered', and ‘We are doing better than our pe...