True, the Coalition Government did meet its targets for spending cuts, such as they were, so full marks for that. What fell short was growth, and therefore tax revenues. Yet rather than cut further to meet his rules, the Chancellor wisely waived his debt target and admitted that setting things right would take longer than anticipated. In so doing, Mr Osborne showed himself to be more of a pragmatist than an ideologue. To have done anything else might have been electoral suicide. It would also have been very foolish economically. The rhetoric continued to be one of fierce austerity and fiscal discipline; the reality was somewhat different.