While for many working in policy, the forthcoming Budget is a key milestone in the political cycle, for most people it happens to them and then they are told how to feel about it by a 24-hour media.
Not only are the impacts of Budget announcements not always obvious, many of us feel very little sense of agency or control over the process beyond the ballot box. The feeling that fiscal policy, like the Budget, is remote and happening to us speaks to wider political dissatisfaction and explains why people feel angry and ignored in our society.
