Will this budget be better received than the last few?

The last four occasions that the Chancellor has presented a budgetary report (two budgets and two pre-budget reports) the details have quickly unravelled. Each budget has been deemed as a springboard to Labour's comeback but each one has plunged the party into the abyss. Think back to the damage that the 10p tax fiasco caused.

Will this budget be any different? If the papers are to be believed, then maybe. From what we read, the Chancellor will finally give us some truths about the state of Britain Plc's finances and will not try to be too rosy. It sounds like he is not going to be pushed around by the Prime Minister any more, creating dividing lines with the Tories, rather he will try to get a grip on the amazing levels of debt we are now reaching.

If he does this, then it maybe seen as a successful budget - if not a cheerful one. Here's waiting with baited breath.

Squiffy.