A pint will cost £6.47 by 2012

The Sun’s Budget coverage today spells out the real-life impact of yesterday’s tax increases. Darling’s booze taxes grow with time and by the 2012 Olympics a pint will cost £6.47. Its case studies “Why you benefit if you’re on benefits” has a brilliant example of a £14k-a-year call centre worker who, outrageously, is £266 a year worse off thanks to the PBR measures which will come into force next month. Kelvin MacKenzie explains the lunacy – and the typographical error – behind this strange jihad on plastic bags. Tom Newton Dunn starts his defence analysis by saying “Don’t be conned – an extra £2bn for defence…is a drop in the ocean.” Its leader states that “the challenge for Labour is to prove that ‘reform’ is not an empty word.” All told, a superb summary that doesn’t waste a minute of your time.