Getting out just short

Helminthdale is on tenterhooks. Even before the announcement of Ooh, We Shall All Be In Pain Together the balance sheet wasn't looking any too healthy and those of us already scheduled for 12% pay cuts before the economy turned sour were detailed to have a look to see where wholesale panic-driven cuts could be made sensible efficiencies could be effected. It has all turned a bit more urgent now: there's a mad dash to get expenditure approved before the "Emergency" Budget and we've got to come up with explanations as to how cutting all the crusts off the sandwiches will make for a better economy. And of course none of it will affect front-line services adversely.

So Helminthdale shivers. The council and National Assistance are the borough's main economic drivers. If the spending power of council staff and the long-term unemployed is diminished God knows how the local private sector will survive.