POOR Alistair Darling has inadvertently achieved the extraordinary. The Chancellor has helped inspire a smattering of pity for real-estate agents.
Who else could possibly do that, except for politicians whose profession has an even lower approval rating than those other slick salesmen?
The Chancellor's ears are probably burning, and not because he may have been sunning himself in No 10's ro
se garden while he minds the shop for Gordon Brown.
At Westminster, the talk is of yet another fundamental balls-up thanks to a few nods and winks here and there on what could possibly be announced in the autumn Pre-Budget Report.
The Treasury and Mr Darling are being blamed for allowing speculation to grow that the government would offer a house stamp duty "holiday" to kick-start the housing market.
Vague briefings, alongside Mr Darling's refusal to dampen the rumours, culminated in front-page headlines. Before long, the government was receiving acres of coverage on its bid to help hard-pressed buyers get on, or move up, the housing ladder. But reports are beginning to flow of house sales falling through on the back of buyers wanting to wait and see what the policy would be. This has triggered fury among stuck home-sellers.
Another recovery plan appears to have backfired.
It is being pointed out by plotters that the Chancellor has form on dangling announcements so far in advance to test public opinion that by the time a policy is unveiled he is accused of dragging his feet over it.
There is only one concrete fact to be established from the Chancellor's stint at No 10 and the stamp duty debacle: it is almost as difficult to run the country as it is to pre-empt the markets.
The full article contains 299 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
