Phew, that was close. My bold pre-budget prediction has just edged home. Alistair Darling used the “confidence” word six times in his Commons speech today. And I think I should get some extra brownie points for the four additional times he said he, the nation and pensioners could be “confident”.

Next week: greyhounds

*** Update ***

Channel 4 News have made a cute word cloud from the speech. Turns out the most significant term was “HELP!!!” Used 58 times.