The media register their vote of no confidence

The media response to Brown’s recovery package for the housing market feels like some kind of milestone.  It’s negative pretty much across the board (as this useful summary by Jenny Percival points out) – picking up on all of the package’s inconsistencies: how it won’t have much of an effect; how it will place undue pressure on the public finances; and how it’s encouraging potential buyers to catch a falling knife.  Of course, you could say that’s exactly the right response, and I’d agree.  But the fact remains that Brown’s measures – and particularly the stamp duty holiday – are, at least, easy to spin in a positive way.  It just seems that no one can now bring themselves to do so. 

Support for Brown in the papers has certainly been dwindling over the past few months – perhaps best represented by Polly Toynbee’s Damascene conversion from being one of his most ardent admirers to one of his most venemous detractors.  But I suspect No.10