Your taxes are going up, up, up, up

The Tory press has been having several orgasms about the latest GDP figures. But before you break out the champagne and then head for the shops to buy more crap from China, there are a few things to remember.

1. Most Brits (and many journalists?) don’t seem to understand the difference between “deficit” and “debt”. Our “deficit” may be stabilising, but our debt is completely out of control – £320bn in 2000: £700bn in 2010: £1trn today: £1.6trn by 2015/6

2. Our interest payments on our debt are heading to over £60bn a year – about what we pay for Defence and Education

3. This is an optimistic view based on the ludicrously unrealistic growth figures projected by the £2m a year waste of space called the Office of Budget Responsibility. If the economy only grows by a more likely 1% a year, then we’re well and truly up s–t creek

4. The Government is planning a massive increase in our taxes to pay for the fact that it is not making any serious attempt to cut public spending. Hidden away in the middle of Osborne’s last budget report are the Government’s projected increases in tax (see figure below). So it’s time to save what you can, because your useless government needs an awful lot more of your money.