After growth flat-lining and Labour going ten points ahead in one poll there is a distinct wobble being felt around Westminster about the cuts. The usually unflappable Speccie have today drawn in their breath about the NHS:

“Barack Obama may have been right to push healthcare reforms, but may nonetheless suffer for the timing and way he did it. The same may be the case for David Cameron.”

While Ben Brogan is quick to point out that Ed Balls is hurting Osborne and:

“…just because Mr Balls is wrong does not guarantee that Mr Osborne is right”

The keep calm and carry on coming from Downing Street is falling on increasingly deaf ears. The coalition are losing their lead in the blame game too. Guido is a little confused at how a £100m sale of some trees has become such a big story in comparison to the much larger swings Osborne has taken with his axe. Maybe it’s the imagery of literally cutting trees, or perhaps this is being allowed to flare up as a distraction for the more radical measures.

The once shining star and former Chief Secretary to the Treasury, David Laws, who was set to oversee the most dramatic overhaul of public spending in a generation has unleashed an out of character scathing and savage attack on the “slash and burn” cutting approach being undertaken. By Somerset County Council’s Conservative administration…

With the tell all book out-of-the-way and television appearances beginning again, many expect Laws to be back in government soon. Punters are still betting he’ll be back before the end of the year…

Despite promising to create countless quangos during the election, the promised axe is coming down hard today on 192 quangos that will be abolished, with another 289 being radically overhauled. 380 quangos are staying including the BBC World Service, despite the Beeb’s scaremongering graphics. The sound of public sector fat cats gasping was audible across the airwaves this morning.

UPDATE: The list goes up on the Cabinet Office website, which subsequently goes down with all the quangocrats seeing if they still have a job. Try for yourself here.

UPDATE II: The DCMS confirms the UK Film Council is a goner.

UPDATE III: The full list:

In February 2005 Screen International reported that  the UK Film Council’s John Woodward had awarded “£11.5 million to Arts Alliance to manage UK digital Screen network”. The article is not online sadly, but it goes on to explain:

“Taking a huge step in creating the western world’s biggest digital cinema network, Government-backed support body UK Film Council has selected an offshoot of venture capitalist Arts Alliance to install a nationwide digital circuit of 250 screens. Under the £11.5m contract, Arts Alliance is to spearhead the installation, training, servicing and upgrades over an 18-month roll-out period and for a further four years.”

The British taxpayer paid the Arts Alliance’s set up and running costs and yet will see none of the profit. However it seems the Alliance are being generous in rewarding those that made the deal happen. Not the taxpayer, but instead former UK Film Council chief John Woodward. The man who negotiated and signed off the deal with the Arts Alliance has been given a job as their managing director now that the future of the UK Film Council is looking grim. A coincidence no doubt…