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July 16 2002: The chancellor, Gordon Brown, has unveiled a £61bn increase in public spending over the next three years. Here are the best reads from around the net.
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Everyone's a winner
'"All have won and all shall have prizes," said the Dodo in Alice in Wonderland, and so it was with Gordon Brown's spending review,' says Ben MacIntytre in a Times sketch. Switching metaphors, he then depicts Mr Brown as drunk Father Christmas running amok in a department store.
Times
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Education, education, education
But of all the winners, says Krishna Guha in FT.com, it is the education secretary, Estelle Morris, who has most reasons to be cheerful. Education, so the pitch went, is 'the foundation of a successful opportunity economy'.
FT.com
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The lucky gambler
Mr Brown has never had a serious economic setback, argues Fraser Nelson in the Scotsman - which explains why he decided not to scale back his spending plans in the face of falling markets. Will his luck run out?
Scotsman
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Can he deliver?
Far more important to the markets, says the Independent's leader, were yesterday's fears about accounting at Shell. 'Despite the uncertainties,' it says, 'it is perfectly possible that Mr Brown's plans will prove affordable and be implemented in full.'
Independent
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Dr Jekyll and Mr Brown
There are two sides to this chancellor, said an editorial in FT.com, after the chancellor had put 1% on national insurance this spring: the 'prudent' chancellor, and the 'rougher character' who instinctively believes in tax and spend. But how will the public view him if the health service does not improve by the next election?
FT.com
An unhealthy budget - leader, Telegraph
Wanless report on NHS funding - the Treasury
Special report: Budget 2002
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Blair's victory
'You've stolen my bloody Budget,' Mr Brown was reported as telling Tony Blair, after the prime minister promised in 2000 that health spending would reach the European average within six years. Today's Budget represents a victory for Mr Blair, argue Jason Beattie and Fraser Nelson in the Scotsman - but Mr Brown has had the last laugh.
Scotsman
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The healthcare balancing act
Jeremy Laurence, health editor of the Independent, reports on an inconclusive Tory survey on health funding systems around the world. While a tax-funded service is more equitable, he says, an insurance-funded system gives more control to the patient.
More research required - Hospital Managers' Informer
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A hole in my bucket
John Plender, writing in FT.com, says the health service is in 'no condition to absorb a big increase in funding efficiently'. He sees the government's plans for a patient-centred NHS as a kind of reinvented 'Soviet-style economic management, complete with a welter of constantly changing Stakhanovite targets'.
FT.com
Health cheque - FT.com
SocietyGuardian.co.uk: Health
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Idle rich raise a glass...
When the editor of the Idler praises your fiscal plans, it is not always a good sign. After Mr Brown put up national insurance but left investments alone, the Times quotes Tom Hodgkinson as saying: 'It's nice to have a signal from Gordon Brown that you shouldn't be ashamed to be idle. Of course it's unfair on those still working, but it's a start.'
Times
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