Actually it’s 2 questions Mr Osborne
1st. Do you accept that the economy is now worse than it was when you came in and that the growth you forecast, vital for your plans to reduce government debt is conspicuous by its absence?
2nd
Where do you stand on 650b?

I think you’ll find their policy on 650b is as stated in their manifesto – there is no Plan B, 29ers are the only way forward.

650b it’s code for the lib dems init

You’re right footflaps but the question is now that George has got his 29er will he put any pedals on it?

Some wag has made him write ‘2+2=5’ on this image he tweeted earlier;

http://twitpic.com/ccv9do

If 650b is code for libdem and George is on a 29er does that mean the coalition is a 650b9er?

The coalition’s bike:

He has no money to finish the 29er build even if goes to CRC with a discount code.

Good one wwaswas I just wish it wasn’t true 🙂

Well, there goes the drivetrain:

So should he sell his 29er and buy a cheaper hardtail with the proceeds, previous tory chancers, sorry chancellors have been good at selling things off?

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OU_fzCpwrNc[/video]
He could try some fortune telling….

No, Gordon was right. We haven’t boomed in ages.

“Hey Gideon. Park Lane Hilton this weekend? You bring the coke…”

I guess labour are still on 26,but it could be 29er and it might be full sus or hardtail or even 650b, steel or aluminium or if ed has his way it’ll be titanium but whatever it is they are definitely not going to tell us or ride it for 2years but they do say it’s better than any other bike!
George is definitely on rigid. 🙂

I guess wheel choice depends on the course profile

until there is stronger growth in the economies of our trading partners or substantial reform of public services I can’t really see much room for manoeuvre by the Chancellor – the eurozone has seen contracting GDP in 4 out of the last 5 quarters.

room to manoeuvre would surely need a change something george has pretty much refused to do ,you can have all the room you like but you have to be willing to adapt. The bike is not the only issue here you also have to pedal it to make it go and to steer it in the right direction. At the moment I believe we are stuck on the wrong bike with no pedals or drivetrain ,going slowly down a hill in the wrong direction.

until there is stronger growth in the economies of our trading partners or substantial reform of public services I can’t really see much room for manoeuvre by the

well as the poster above notes not if you think there is only one plan you cannot change it. However by anyones assesment the plan has not worked and it has not really met any of his objectives
He cannot really change course because politicians can never do this over important issues as the electorate would slate him and it is political suicide bothe personally and for the party/coalition.
i also think he lacks the ability to think the right wing political ideal is anything other than perfect whatever reality says.
Of course he will blame the Eu much like gordon took the credit for ending boom and bust but both arguments are not true though. Georges probably has the most truth in it to be fair

just watching the budget , just wondering if hes a retard or what ?

we want to let folk who can afford a mortgage but not a deposit buy a house…..

EH – that undermines the whole reason you NEED a deposit surely.

George doesn’t know where he stands on 650b, but after a lunch with his mates in the banking sector he will form an opinion.

Camo16.

Is that piccy of GO, returning his parrot ?

“This parrot is dead“……..

we want to let folk who can afford a mortgage but not a deposit buy a house…..

EH – that undermines the whole reason you NEED a deposit surely.

In the current climate there are plenty of people paying out far more in rent than a mortgage would be, which then means it becomes very difficult to save for a deposit.

Not that I think propping up housebuilders with ridiculous schemes is a good thing, but the government aren’t keen to let the housing market correct itself.

If Osbourne is looking for excuses he would be perfectly correct to highlight – weak (and much weaker than forecast) growth in our biggest trading partners (hence the X-M or perhaps M-X hit despite the weak pound), the collapse of financial services (still broken essentially) and weakness in oil and gas. Exclude FS and O&G and the economy is not as weak as headline numbers suggest – one reason why the labour data (leaving aside today’s numbers) have been better than expected,

Odd slip into estuary English for a St Paul’s boy ….”an today I wanna…” Tony would have been very proud.

im curious – where are people paying more in rent than a mortgage for a comparible house.

Ive seen it where folk are renting in a very nice area to get their kids into a certain school and realise they cant afford to buy anywhere near there and buy in a much more affordable area thus paying less in mortgage than rent but im yet to see rentals that are more than a mortgage on similar housing.

Haven’t looked at a mortgage at all but private rental around fort William is very high £550pcm for a 2bed flat and interest rates are low……

We were paying £595 a month rent on a 2 Bed semi, we pay £450 mortgage on a 3 bed semi. Same side of same town.

I pay 150 quid less in mortgage than I did in rent. I bought the house that I was renting direct from the landlord and was getting a good deal on the rent…at least 50 quid more pcm seemed the norm.

Most of the new builds that I see are tiny, on top of each other and built on a bloody flood plain so how they sell them I’ll never know!

those are some mental prices esp in fort william – ok im living in the aberdeen north east bubble but i was paying 525 a month for a 1 bed and an identical flat next door sold for 140k which is an 800 quid a month mortgage.

pay £525 a month for a 1 bed flat in bristol

My brother pays £795/month for a 2 bed flat Hitchin!

growth figures coming out today are very poor and fair enough its a global thang

but as millibland pointed out george and dave promised wed be nearly out of it by now and once again theres no end in sight, youd think that theyd have learnt from cleggys book about making promises you cant keep

this budget looks to offer more of the same, really, Plan A all the way, regardless of how bad the economy (global and domestic) is doing

-re the housing thing theres a simple answer build more council houses but dont sell them off!

as for the real issue, what measures is the chancellor taking to ensure that there are some decent 650b mud tyres?!?!

-re the housing thing theres a simple answer build more council houses but dont sell them off!

To be fair – given the (jerry built) standard of construction of any mass build properties done in the past 30 years, I think we’ve probably dodged a bullet in not having them on the taxpayers balance sheet.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKFTtYx2OHc[/video]

Best get on with the dancing, drinking and screwing, then.

im curious – where are people paying more in rent than a mortgage for a comparible house.

Certainly true in my part of Bristol. It costs over £800 to rent a 3 bed house, I pay substantially less than that on my mortgage

you can buy a 3 bed house in bristol with a 20% deposit on 160k? today ? (roughly what 800 quid will get you)

or is it a historical mortgage on low interest rates with a massive deposit (that people using these schemes “cant save”)

but as millibland pointed out george and dave promised wed be nearly out of it by now and once again theres no end in sight

So what they actually did wrong was failed to predict the failure of the Eurozone? Clearly it would be nice if the Chancellor was better at predicting things than all leading economists, but I’m not sure it’s all that fair to suggest he’s useless for failing to do so.

can we talk about things that have a real impact on our lives?
1p reduction in duty on beer. which will mean a reduction in the price at the pumps, no?