The big headlines in today's pre-budget statement had been so well trailed in "leaks" to the Sunday papers and the BBC that the reduction in VAT to 15% and the planned increase in income tax for high earners to 45p in the pound came as no surprise this afternoon.
The VAT move will free up £12.5bn for consumers, always assuming that retailers are a bit fairer with their customers than the banking community and pass the reductions on in full. That has to be good news, both for the retail and manufacturing sectors.

It should be particularly welcome for the motor industry, representing a significant saving on the cost of new cars, and will hopefully therefore benefit Jaguar and Vauxhall here on Merseyside.
We will have to pay for it in the long term, of course, which is why measures like the 0.5% increase in national insurance for all taxpayers, and the proposed 45p tax rate for people earning more than £150,000 a year have come in.
Mr Darling has obviously calculated that the mood of the British people has swung against the high earners who, I heard it stated on the radio this very morning "are to blame for the mess we are in".
That may be true in some cases, but people on high earnings tend to include the entrepreneurs and business superstars who help drive the economy, people whose skills will be vital when Britain eventually starts to recover. It is to be hoped we don't face a return to the bad old days of a brain drain of our brightest and best to countries with more enlightened fiscal policies.
There is plenty in the fine print that should also be helpful, like putting a hold on the planned increase in corporation tax for small businesses from 21% to 22%, and Mr Darling's announcement that lenders have agreed to give struggling homeowners three months grace on mortgage arrears before taking repossession action.
One can understand the social argument for putting up the duty on tobacco and alcohol to cancel out the VAT reduction - but I have to say, I am less convinced of the wisdom of doing the same thing to petrol. In all cases, it is to be hoped he remembers to take the duty increase off again when the VAT goes back up. (Fat chance, I hear you cry!)
Yes, the environment is important, but so are the road hauliers who help keep our economy on the move, and they could have done with the added stimulus of this cut, even if oil prices are dramatically down on the highs of this summer.
But the bottom line on all this is that the British economy, like the global economy, is in crisis on a scale unprecedented in most of our lifetimes. Whatever the political and social arguments for and against today's package, the acid test will be if it helps to mitigate some of the effects of the recession, and pull us out of it sooner.
If it does that, then there can be few real arguments that it was the right thing to do. We must all keep our fingers crossed.

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