Portrait of the week | 23 October 2010

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The coalition government announced cuts under the Comprehensive Spending Review of £23.1 billion, or 3.3 per cent of total government spending, over four years. The schools budget joined the NHS and international aid in being protected from cuts. This will be paid for by deeper cuts in welfare spending. Spending on infrastructure was revised upwards. The social housing budget will be heavily cut. George Osborne claimed he was cutting non-protected departments by 19 per cent, less than the 20 per cent Labour had planned. The Office for Budget Responsibility has forecast a loss of 490,000 jobs due to the reduction in the public sector by 2014–15, offset by 1.5 million more private-sector jobs over the period. Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England, spoke of more quantitative easing. Railway passengers face sharply increased fares. The BBC licence fee is to be frozen for six years, and the corporation will pay for the BBC World Service, which had been on the Foreign Office budget. Oliver Lewis played ‘Flight of the Bumblebee’ on the violin in one minute and 3.356 seconds on Blue Peter.

The Strategic Defence and Security Review cut 7.5 per cent of the defence budget, leaving it with 2 per cent of GDP. The Royal Navy will lose 5,000 men. Its fleet will shrink from 24 to 19 ships; the carrier Ark Royal will be decommissioned, and the Harrier jump jets will also go. Two new aircraft carriers will go ahead, but one will be mothballed upon completion. Trident submarines will carry fewer warheads. The Army will lose 7,000 men and 40 per cent of its tanks. The RAF will lose 5,000 men and plans for new Nimrod reconnaissance aircraft will be cancelled. The Ministry of Defence will lose 25,000 civilian staff. A day earlier, the National Security Council identified the four most serious threats to Britain as international terrorism, hostile computer attacks, a major accident or natural hazard such as influenza, and a military crisis between states.