The Budget
This week we saw a performance from a Chancellor with an opportunity unique in modern times - able to plan a savagely political budget having known for years exactly how far before the election it would come. It pains me to say it, but he played his hand expertly on several fronts.
There's a small cut in pension allowances for the better off, but pensioners have almost uniquely been protected from austerity, so this is unlikely to lose any votes. There's a small move against tax avoidance, so the Conservatives can say they've made progress on a populist issue Labour have claimed. There's support for the oil and gas sector in part to undermine the SNP's claim to be the defenders of that industry. There's a penny off a pint of beer (really, who'd notice?) which played well with the tabloids. The increase in the personal allowance, which they've happily claimed off the Lib Dems, will be popular although it's hardly as progressive as it might look, and it's been tied to a boost for the better off. George Osborne might have made an utter mess of the 2012 "omnishambles" budget - Damian McBride's explanation of how his predecessors largely ensured their budgets didn't unravel is still essential reading - but he's certainly mastered the art now.
The election
The Budget, of course, largely was the election this week, and I expect it to lead to a bit of a bump for the Conservatives, especially given the relatively rudderless feel of the Labour Party. YouGov, polling just before the Budget, had Labour still one point ahead. It's become an odd election for two reasons: first, because of the inability of either Labour or the Conservatives to establish an election-winning position, which is partly related to the substantial decline in the two-party vote. The pundits think no overall majority is almost guaranteed. Given how the electoral system works, I'm not so sure.
Secondly, over the last month Labour, the Tories and the Lib Dems have all made "vote for us to block Specific Other Party you dislike" or "we promise not to work with Specific Other Party" almost the entire basis of their three campaigns. This feels like a collective effort to encourage the electorate to look elsewhere, or indeed to illustrate how absurd first past the post is in a multi-party system. Either way, election night will be a long and fascinating affair.
Football
I should declare an interest before going any further: this is a project I've been working on for a couple of years. So I was over the moon (and other football clichés) when the Scottish Parliament backed a series of Green amendments designed to give football fans the right to buy their clubs. Oddly enough, the representatives of the existing owners weren't happy about this, but the existing model has seen eleven clubs go bust since 2000, one of them twice, so maybe it's time to see if the fans can do any better.