If there’s one thing the last few days have taught me, it’s that it’s perfectly okay to cut public spending so long as:

• No-one loses their job
• No-one loses a ‘service’ or subsidy
• No-one has to pay more for something they previously got cheaper or for free
• It doesn’t cause any sort of short, medium or long term negative impact on the economy.

Just to be clear, that means it’s never, ever, ever okay to cut public spending. If you absolutely have to – say for example that spending is far beyond what you can claw back in tax… let’s call it a ‘deficit’… then what do you do?

Borrow more? It’s taxpayers that have to pay back the debt, with interest. Put taxes up again? The question becomes who should be taxed, and how do you get them to pay, and exactly how much can you extract from people before they actually protest?

It’s almost as if there’s…. wow… like no easy answers. Except there is an easy answer: Cut spending. At least, that would be an easy answer if it wasn’t some sort of social taboo to even considering the idea. Especially if the name of your party rhymes with “Rory”, in which case you’re especially not allowed to consider cuts, cos, you know, you’re doing it for fun because you’re evil.

But consider: Say I steal £1 off 100 people and give you the £100. Should I do it a second time? Apparently refusing to do it a second time is a greater crime, because I’m denying you £100 that you’re now expecting. The poor suckers who are losing the £1? It’s only £1 isn’t it? Hardly worth getting in a flap over.

If they knew how much you really really needed that money, they’d be happy to cough up, right?

See, whilst many (most of them apparently on Twitter) are psychologically able to ignore, or excuse, or basically discount altogether the taking money from people bit of public spending, there are some of us that just can’t.

One day it occurs to ask the question, “What exactly gives them the right to help themselves to whatever they want?” and the answer turns out to be because they can. Then you get a bit angry and frustrated, feel almost entirely helpless then, just to make things that little bit worse, everyone else in the world comes and slaps you in the face for even daring to consider such heretical notions.

The taking from me bit doesn’t count. I don’t matter. It’s the no longer giving bit that counts. Think about how people feel! Think about all the things they could do with that money, or that job, or learn from those people or achieve with the support of those others! Don’t you understand? Have you no feelings?

Apparently not. I just keep thinking, “But it’s not your money. How can you live with yourselves taking it?”

Then I wonder how we got into the sort of situation were people feel they have to take the money, that their need is moral justification enough. Is our economy really so pathetic and broken that people are reduced to state sponsored beggary? Perhaps it might be an idea to start thinking more about root causes and genuine solutions than ‘firefighting’ our woes away at the expense of the future.

N.B I’m not a Lib Dem or a Tory. Thank you.