PRESS GANG Hooden lady

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It's little wonder that most of the capitalist press was so scornful about the broadcast of Parliament. Their room for manoeuvre to bill the proceedings as higher than they are has been drastically reduced.

At the end of Healey's droning budget performance, Thatcher sounded as if she had woken up suddenly and was not sure where she was.

The only certain fact on which she could fix her mind was that she had not seen the budget before.

One should have some sympathy for her. The budget produced by Healey was probably almost exactly the same as the Tories would have introduced.

It is not easy to produce a stinging attack on a budget which is obviously designed to do as little as possible in the hope that capitalism will not get any sicker.

This did not stop Thatcher's speech being hailed as a savage onslaught on Healey in the more strident of the Tory press.

Nor did it stop the Daily Mirror and the Daily Mail squaring up to eachother like rival football fans arguing about a penalty decision.

For the Mirror the Labour bureaucracy had produced near perfection-a sort of fiscal 'Sound of Music' with something for all the family.

The Mail saw the same proposals as being more like a double horror bill. Its attacks made the Telegraph and Express look soft on social democracy.

The Financial Times, having less need than Mrs Thatcher to be seen to be hostile gave cautious and lukewarm approval to most of the measures.

But later in the week the patient took a turn for the worse.

The trade figures were the worst for ages, which was not well received by the press despite Whitehall's description of the steadily worsening of the figures as 'erratic' Inflation continued to fall. but production figures showed no signs of an increase-a fact which makes the high import figures in the halance of trade more serious.

By this time the partis insult swapping in the pr had subsided.

A more serious attem to assess the budget's effi was made by Francis Car cross in the Guardian.

Her Economic Notebo for the day was headed T budget time bomb' and fo cast that the increased sper ing that would result fr the budget would bring a sharper crisis.

Her conclusion was il the best Healey could hc for was a run on the pound damp down the mor supply. But even this wor bring him small comfort.

"A run on the pou would produce a crisis in 1 gilt edged market, a n squeeze on living standard! pay revolt, a need to jack interest rates"

With that kind of asse ment Cairneross adri Healey to go for an ₴3 election.

Opportunities for anot! setpiece budger show. bor and cheered from the s lines. have been consideral reduced.