Whether it likes it or not, Britain's coalition government will be judged on how well it performs its self-appointed central task: cutting a budget deficit equal to 10% of gdp this year. Apart from the risk that the four-year programme of severe spending cuts announced by George Os-borne (pictured) on October 20th may cause social unrest, the main danger is economic. Some worry that the chancellor of the exchequer's medicine may amount to a fiscal overdose that will kill rather than cure the patient as the economy seeks to recover from a savage recession.
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