And another U-turn arises.

You'd think that this government would be getting a little dizzy by now.

Of course, let us not forget that this is a good thing - a refund to those hit by the botched Budget last year can never be seen as bad, mind - but the real question was why Brown let himself in for this as Chancellor and left Darling to pick up the pieces.

To be blunt, at times like this you wonder how connected Brown is to his party. He didn't forsee such a huge backbencher revolt over the issue last year, and he refused to acnowledge their concern before the disaster that was May 1st.

So this is just a political gimmick to get the populace back on Brown's side. I doubt it will fail in this aim. In my eyes, however, I regard this as the worst kind of U-turn - not one borne out of guilt or hindsight, but one of political manouvering. And this isn't the first time it has happened.

Darling, to his credit, handled the crisis well He defended policy (as he has to) but in the background he was constantly working - it would seem - to fix the issue in Labour's favour. Hence, he's not a bad politican.

Field has backed down now that his demands have been met. This, really, is a bit of a blunder. He has to hold the government to account for as long as this issue has not - in reality - been sorted indefinatly. And I wish him best of luck.

I think Vince Cable sums it up best. When he adressed the Chancellor, he said:

It may well be that for a few hours this will get you out of the difficulties that you created for yourself."

It is a band-aid, not anything major. But it is a step in the right direction.

- Huw