CABINET bovver boy Eric Pickles chose yesterday to unveil some good news.

Council tax has been frozen or reduced in every local authority in England this year.

This has come as a welcome relief for millions of hard pressed taxpayers. But that’s just about the end of it as far as the good news is concerned, irrespective of a bit of tinkering around the margins by George Osborne in the Budget.

On the debit side of the balance sheet, there’s a whole list of things stacked up.

Food prices are rocketing. Inflation is heading towards five per cent, living standards are plummeting. Rural communities – a sizeable part of the Dorset economy, are feeling the squeeze in particular. Businesses are struggling and the price of petrol has never been higher – you may have lost track of the cost of a gallon of diesel, which now stands at a staggering £6.36.

The mood among people in Bournemouth yesterday was gloomy.

While all this is going on, Britain is getting embroiled in Libya and the foreign secretary is warning dictators all over the world take note as the UK starts flexing its muscles with various undesirables.

Without stretching a point, Lyndon Johnson once said: “I lost the woman I loved to that bitch of a war.” The war was Vietnam. The woman was the Great Society and battle against poverty.

Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg need to watch they get their priorities right.