Inflation-busting bus fare increases, rail fare increases, fuel price increases, council tax increases, water and sewage price increases, gas price increases, electricity price increases, house price increases... when will the Government tell us the truth that inflation is not two per cent, it is out of control (unless you are the Government calculating next year's pension and other benefit rises).

Tony Blair has surrendered a huge part of Britain's rebate to Brussels - a burden which will fall on the British taxpayer - and in return he received nothing.

"The best deal Britain could have hoped for" according to Tony Blair.

The quid pro quo... a non-binding agreement for a review of the common agricultural policy in 2007/08 which the French have already said they will veto.

President Chirac went straight back to Paris and announced "No change to the CAP until 2013".

Gordon Brown is so indebted that he has to keep large swathes of his borrowing off the balance sheet through schemes such as the Private Finance Initiative.

It still has to be repaid and guess who will pick up the tab?

And as for the employment figures... record unemployment is achieved by leaving as many unemployed people off the register as possible (over-55s, people on invalidity benefit and so forth) and employing an extra one million civil servants to do non-existent jobs.

The garden may seem rosy today, but the chickens will come home to roost and today's youngsters will pick up the tab.

Tony Taylor,

Grassholme,

Woodthorpe,

York.

Updated: 10:20 Monday, January 09, 2006