Osborne will say the UK economy is strong in budget speech

Bloomberg citing a PM spokeswoman

He's hardly going to say it's crap is he? ;-)

The budget kicks off at 12.30 GMT. There will be a long speech that will say how great we're doing but it will come with plenty of warnings about the global economy and downside risks.

Then he'll detail the budget changes. Booze, fags, fuel duty and income taxes will be the main talking points for your everyday Brit.

Growth forecasts, income, spending, borrowing, deficits, investment and where he'll be robbing Peter to pay Paul, will be of more interest to pound traders, though I'm not expecting any news to send the quid 100's of pips in any direction.

Once he's done the opposition will pull his plan to bits and tell everyone how they could do it better.

If you're not tied up in the data, head over to Parliament TV as it's always fun to see UK democracy in action. It's better than any soap opera or comedy show you'll get on TV ;-)

What's Ozzie got for lunch today?