Oh dear. It's not looking very good out there is it? And I don't just mean the view from my window which suggests that the extra vest and woolly socks might be required sooner rather than later.

Economics is one of those subjects that few of us lay-people really understand. Instead we rely on commentators, journalists and actual economists to make sense of it all for us.

So the redoubtable Ed Balls has decided that it would be a good thing for the building and housing markets if the Coalition Government were to reduce VAT to 5% on housing repair, maintenance and improvement.

What a difference a couple of years makes.

The greenest Government ever? In your dreams, David Cameron.

I was talking to a chap who sells cement the other day, as you do. And what he said worried me.

Hands up who hasn't done this, or something very similar.

Much like the fabled curate's egg, the Government's Housing Strategy released on Monday is good in parts. But only parts.

Well those of us who thought that last week's Housing Strategy didn't go far enough found out why at about 12.30pm yesterday when that nice George Osborne stood up in the House of Commons and told that there's no money.

Does this Government know what it's doing when it comes to encouraging energy efficiency and moving the country towards a low carbon economy?