A former civil servant may have accused the Chancellor of "Stalinistruthlessness" the day before his final budget, but Gordon Brown's plansfor the nation's children are a far cry from Stalin's sinisterre-education centres.
In fact, children were one of the big winners from Brown's 11th budget,with an early confirmation of extra money for children's services and ahost of changes to the benefits system to combat child poverty.
Charity 4Children excitedly crowned Brown as "the children'sChancellor".
Anne Longfield, the charity's chief executive, said: "The Chancellor'sfinal budget is the culmination of a decade of investment in childrenand does not disappoint."
Cash for schools
Education is certainly a winner. Brown used the budget to pre-empt thissummer's Comprehensive Spending Review, announcing that the Departmentfor Education and Skills' budget will rise by an average of 2.5 per centa year after inflation between 2007/08 and 2010/11.
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