Wow, as if axing PAYE wasn't troublesome enough for my delicate sensitivity, now The Madness of Boy George has a new manifestation: a bank shares giveaway.

Er, like, run that by me again? The point of the bank bailout was that there would be a substantial potential upside for the Treasury in the future once banks had recovered. Now, it seems that large amounts of this may be frittered away in a desperate attempt to win friends and influence people.

This sort of obvious pre-election stunt exposes Osborne's fundamental weakness. He is an utter liability who lacks the gravitas to deal with our creditors in a serious, grown-up way. After the Conservatives win the election, he must go - quickly. Better to bring in a contender, such as William Hague or Ken Clarke, to sort out our fiscal mess.

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Filed under: Current issues, Economics, Politics with tags banks, conservatives, deficit, george osborne, idiots, ken clarke, times, william hague