Tory tax plans have got the blogosphere in a lather. But not all Tory bloggers are after cuts...
"CONSERVATIVES "SAY SOMETHING SENSIBLE" SHOCK SENSATION! ******ALERT ALERT ALERT****** Rejoice. The Conservative Party has FINALLY said something quite sensible."
That was the verdict on the right-wing A Tangled Web blog. But for many bloggers of a Conservative persuasion, tax cuts are anything from electoral good sense to religious obligation.
But, since Shadow Chancellor George Osborne isn't planning to implement these plans, Tangled Web's delight was tempered: "So, back to Earth with a bump. The Cameronians set up this straw man of tax-cutting so it can be seen a kind and gentle when it announces it still intends stealing as much money from us as NuLabour. Plus ca change?"
Tory blogissimo Iain Dale - a keen tax cutter - expressed the same frustration: "We can't just refight the battles of the 1990s - we've got to inspire. And as I have said before, merely saying you're going to mirror Labour's tax and spend levels isn't going to inspire anyone to get out of bed on a wet Thursday and go down to a polling station."
Others paid more attention to the fact that the announcement wasn't made by the Tories, but by Labour's Ed Balls. He was keen to paint the Tories' plans as a bid to cut taxes and slash public services.
Mr Eugenides wasn't impressed. "Even if you leave aside the question of whether or not cutting taxes and public spending is a desirable political goal, Ed Balls is simply lying when he says that this proposed tax package would not "help ordinary families". It is a lie. Shame it's not actually going to happen."
Fair Deal Phil took a different view: "The able Ed Balls went straight on to Channel 4 News to expose the huge hole the figures would leave in public finances.
"And who was the Tory spokesman on C4...? The hapless Howard Flight, who had to be sacked by Michael Howard in the run-up to the last General Election over Tory plans for massive cuts to public services.
"No comment... Except to note that this latest Tory threat to economic stability and record low inflation and interest rates, comes on the very day a United Nations report is published showing that £85 billion of inward investment came into Britain last year, making the UK the most popular destination for investment in the world."
Eventually George Osborne gave a press conference to talk about the plans (although not to adopt them). Labour's Alex Hilton, the man who feeds bananas to the widely read Recess Monkey blog, was less interested in the substance of what the Shadow Chancellor wasn't committing himself to, than the style:
"To be fair, I didn't actually notice what he was saying, so shocked was I that he didn't sound like a chipmunk. Has Osborne been de-squeaked? Has he had voice coaching? Or has he just encountered puberty? The people demand to know."
You're a very mean Monkey, Alex.
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