This cartoon by Morten Morland from The Times shows UK Chancellor George Osborne sitting alone in the front row at the Oscar awards ceremony. The ceremony has finished and workers are busy clearing the stage. However, Osborne is not going home yet, and remarks "My plan is to win and I'm sticking to it!"
COMMENTARY
The cartoonist uses the Oscars to comment on the Chancellor's stubborn refusal to change course on the coalition government's deficit-cutting economic policies (the so-called 'Plan A'), despite last week's downgrading of the UK's prized AAA credit rating by ratings agency Moody's. Following the downgrade, Osborne wrote in The Sun: "Far from weakening our resolve to deliver our economic recovery plan, this decision redoubles it. We will go on delivering the plan that has cut the deficit by a quarter." The message of the cartoon seems to be that Osborne refuses to accept the reality of the situation. Just as he has no hope of receiving an Oscar, his economic policies have no chance of succeeding. In fact, you could say that Osborne won't be winning any prizes for economic management.
VOCABULARY
1. If you stick to a promise, agreement, decision, or plan, you do what you said you would do, or do not change your mind. • The James Bond series has lasted as long as it has because it has, for the most part, stuck to a tried-and-true formula.
2. The man in the blue overalls is sweeping the stage with a broom. Osborne is wearing a dinner jacket and bow tie.
