Ignore the pasties and the petrol stories: it was a good fortnight for the government | Simon Jenkins

The volume of noise from a cynical news storm drowns out any sentient analysis of the budget and its aftermath

Look at it this way. Britain has been quite well governed this past two weeks. George Osborne's budget was mildly reflationary and progressive, which is about right as the economy emerges from recession. Freezing the pensions tax threshold was not unreasonable, given how relatively well pensioners have done of late. Ending the 50p band undid a pointless Labour gesture whose revenue...