Was there a collective groan of relief and physical release as Brown said the C word, again and again?
The prime minister said he would "cut costs, cut inefficiencies, cut unnecessary programmes and cut lower priority budgets".
The experience must have been either cathartic or orgasmic.
And to think, just the day before, Lord Mandelson had spent months avoiding the word and playing the word game of talking about cuts without saying That Taboo Word.
Perhaps it was some sort of quasi-Masonic rule that only the Prime Minister can say it, but no one else can, not even that Lord of the Labour Party, Lord Mandelson. It is just a sign of where you are on in the Labour Party hierarchy, and Mandy is not quite PM yet.
And if and when he is, then he too will be saying the C word with relish and impunity.
Tragically, this is what passes for political debate amongst our political classes in this benighted country.
