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Week on the web
Martha Moss
It was a "stability and opportunity" Budget delivered by a determined and unflappable chancellor sipping tap water. Asleep yet? The bloggers may have been bored into oblivion by Darling's dulcet monotones, but they still did a good job of picking apart the small print.
Paul Linford says it was the "most politically" unexciting Budget in the history of New Labour, and even for Kevin Maguire - who is infamously trained to laugh at Brown's most well-rehearsed anecdotes - describes it as a "masterclass in dullness".
Liberal Democrat MP Lynne Featherstone writes on her blog that it was "even more turgid than usual", but Polly Tonynbee questions how a Budget which takes thousands of people out of poverty could be described as dull.
Cramner predicts that Darling's first Budget will also be his last, and Dizzy is "dying of boredom" two bullet points into his rolling Budget blog.
This series of posts on Sam Coates' Red Box blog detail Alistair Darling's (un)changing styles since the 1970s, his first media outing in Electronics Times in 1987, and his many eyebrow expressions.
Following the chancellor's announcement that supermarkets could be forced to charge for carrier bags, Nelson marvels at the "jihad on plastic bags" and Nick Robinson says it represents a victory for the Daily Mail.
There is also plenty of coverage of the "So-Whatgate" affair. "You may be minister for children but don't behave like one," jibes David Cameron after Ed Balls allegedly shouted out "so what" following his statement that Britain has "the highest tax burden in our history". Cries of "cover-up" echoed around the web after Hansard recorded the children's secretary as saying "so weak".
Guido has this graphic detailing the affair, and Iain Martin claims that Labour MPs are revelling in Balls' woes.
However, Louise Bagshawe scowls that it is no laughing matter and this post on politicalbetting points to the front page Express splash of Balls and questions if he could have lost Labour the next election.
News that MPs could be forced to publish details of all their expenses claims receives warm welcome across the blogosphere.
According to Nick Robinson, members will not be able to challenge the freedom of information ruling to publish full a list of their expenses, which could include up to £750 spent on a stereo.
Elsewhere, David Cameron invites the TV cameras to film him and his family over the breakfast table after a ConservativeHome poll revealed that 82 per cent of Tories had a "very strong belief in the potency of brand Cameron".
Readers of Adam Boulton's blog are invited to give their views on whether it is ethical, the Three Line Whip is "intrigued" by the decision and Anthony Little says it is undoubtedly a personal choice.
Over at the Labour camp, David Pitt-Watson is appointed as the party's new general secretary, and ministers lick their wounds following the latest "baby killer" attack from the Tories.
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Published: Fri, 14 Mar 2008 13:03:47 GMT+00
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