Tuesday.....International....Chancellor of the Chubby Checker

Strikes are roiling France but the UK announced budget cuts today that has British public services twisting in the wind.  Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne declared  today is the day where Britain steps back from the brink as he announced spending and entitlements cuts that has set everyone else in both Europe and America back on its heals. The next five years may see 500,000 jobs lost. Just about every area has been cut, including the military, and the state pension age is being raised to 66, where France's riots stem from their raising the pension age from 60 to 62. Bureaucrats are being axed and the BBC is being hit. Here are some comments from voices in government and society, both in praise of and opposed to:

Today is the day that an abstract debate about spreadsheets and numbers turns into stark reality

Cuts to the funding of border controls and counter-terrorism policing risk weakening our defenses against threats to our national security.

I'm not trying to disguise that it is going to be difficult for a lot of people.

I don't think that there's any way that a Labour government would have made choices that mean that children are actually bearing more of a burden in this deficit reduction than bankers...

George Osbourne has pulled the rug from under recovery with these reckless cuts.

It's going to be a very serious three or four years ahead of us.

This is a budget to destroy 500,000 jobs in the public sector, according to the government's own estimates.

It is a Tory list of shame

The Chancellor has got the strategic direction of this spending review right.

Simply slashing jobs and opening the prison gates is not an option.

I am confident that we have the will and determination to tackle bureaucracy...

Business has been absolutely clear on this-the deficit has to be tackled no matter what and this starts the process.

The broadest shoulders still have the fattest wallets. The price from George Osbourne's day of reckoning will be paid by the economy.

It's great news that the Government is going ahead with necessary spending cuts to get the deficit under control and that politicians are finally setting out clear plans to deal with the fiscal crisis.

This is not a spending review-it's a massacre.

The comments go on and on, back and forth. Once again, the issue here goes beyond the obvious. This financial crisis round the world is real and not only for investors on Wall Street and 401Ks. Incredibly, British taxes may be raised even higher but the government had to do this first. That stiff upper lip of the British will be sorely tested. This is the price paid for fiscal irresponsibility, and short-sightedness, and it is only the beginning. We will pay the piper for the bailouts and stimulus as we are currently paying the price for letting down our guard on constitutional, cultural and ecclesiastical matters. Words from a well-known Christian hymn comes to mind:

When darkness seems to hide His face,
I rest on His unchanging grace.
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.

On Christ the solid Rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.