The deal is done

We find out this week which departments will be hit by austerity cuts.

I don’t suppose  'George' Osborne much enjoyed being called “Jeffrey” by the most powerful man in the world at last week’s G8 summit. But to an extent that is hard to communicate in his current job, he is amused by the ironies, fiascos and satire of politics, even when he is their victim. He understands that the political universe is governed by the laws of entropy, and the trick is to hold things together for as long as you can. Yet it is in the nature of a capricious universe to deliver unexpected moments of good fortune, too.

We are going to go through another round of giving & taking between government departments in the hope of having something left over for 'large scale' infrastructure projects. However, according to the criteria he himself set in 2010, Osborne’s spending review this week, demanding 6.6 per cent additional cuts in 2015-16 from departments whose budgets are not ring-fenced, ought to be a moment of ignominy. But it will be no such thing, for reasons that are instructive about the Coalition as a whole.

So on day one George Osborne [conservative] will detail who is losing what and on day two Danny Alexander [Liberal Democrat] will list all the wonderful projects that can now be brought forward...