There will be blood
The Belfast Telegraph link is now available and in today's paper I focus on the spending review and, in particular, local reaction to cuts. the notion that poor, benighted Northern Ireland is to be mercilessly squeezed by the perfidious Tories, was not unduly dented by the fact that we actually got off rather lightly, in comparison with the rest of the UK. It made little difference that we can expect only a 6.9% cut to our block grant, while the average government department will see its spending constricted by 19%. Not even a cool £200 million, stumped up by the Treasury to reimburse investors in the ill-fated Presbyterian Mutual Society, could draw poison from local attacks on the Chancellor and his government. Foremost among the critics are Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness, who allege that Osborne has broken a promise to deliver £18 billion of infrastructure improvements to Northern Ireland. That figure was thrashed out behind closed doors with Gordon Brown, in the wake