They say 10% like it's a bad thing...

One of the things TB found most hilarious about the Mr 10% Cuts attack, devised by a

liar out of his depth

, was the fact that when the 10% cuts figure was suggested to anyone not playing politics, anyone with the interests of the country at heart, they said "good.. and then what?"

Rachael Sylvester

has an a fascinating scoop in today's Times, that no doubt DC/GO are slightly annoyed has leaked:

"A few weeks ago an extraordinary meeting took place that could determine the future of public spending in this country. The venue was a white stuccoed house in Carlton Gardens. The chairman was Sir Gus O’Donnell, the Cabinet Secretary. Under discussion was whether drastic cuts in expenditure — of up to 20 per cent — will be needed to tackle the spiralling deficit. In the room were senior officials from across Whitehall and Conservative frontbenchers — but not a single minister.

In 1994 Canada was running a deficit of 9.2 per cent of GDP, about the same as Britain’s today. It had tried “efficiency savings”, public sector wage freezes and departmental budget cuts with little success.

Then the Liberal Government launched a fundamental review of the role of the state. Public expenditure was cut by a fifth across the board, and the number of state employees reduced by 23 per cent. Although health had only a small reduction in funding, defence spending was cut by 15 per cent, the transport budget was halved and industrial, regional and agricultural subsidies slashed. Within three years the deficit had been reduced to zero and the Government re-elected. “There was blood on the floor everywhere, but at least everyone could see that others were hurting too,” said Marcel Massé, the minister responsible. Voters told him: “This is butchery, but at least you seem a good surgeon.”

How long do we have to wait before this much needed surgery can start? Labour are going into scorched earth mode. Once again the Tories will be the ones that have to pick up the pieces but perhaps the most exciting prospect comes toward the end of Sylvester's piece:

"Senior Tories cite Tesco’s slogan “every little helps” in discussing cuts. But the real aim, they say, is to follow the Canadian example and rethink the role of the State. “There will be examples of painful decisions that we will need to take — but that’s more about showing people that we are serious rather than solving the debt crisis,” says one strategist. “You are not going to get anywhere near enough just by cutting even quite big things, the real point is that we have got to make fundamental changes in how we do things.”

Hallelujah!