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At least Standard and Poors seem to have found Bill English's rather underwhelming budget to its satisfaction. The Herald reports thus:

S&P said today that the budget delivered a "sound" outlook.

"The change in the outlook on the foreign currency rating reflects our view that the measures announced in today's budget will support stabilisation in the government's fiscal position over the medium term," S&P credit analyst Kyran Curry said.

And even better news. Standard and Poors had three options today; to downgrade New Zealand's credit rating, to maintain the "negative watch" it was keeping on the economy, or to return New Zealand's rating to stable. That they have chosen the latter will be a fillip to the Government as it defends itself against the inevitable "broken promises" allegations. Yes, that's right; already Clayton Cosgrove has quoted extensively from Brian Rudman's Herald article which we blogged about yesterday.

And as an aside - Cosgrove should be aware of the placement of the robotic cameras in the chamber, and avoid having the top of his head showing - otherwise it's a bit hypocritical of him to be making snide remarks about Steven Joyce's "centre-part" is it not?