Introducing business and the economic environment with Darling’s debt dilemma

I really like this cartoon version of the impossible task facing the Chancellor as he prepares his budget. How to solve the riddle of balancing out the need for spending with the need to raise revenue in order to repay the borrowing - which could be seen as a mega-version of how to cope with cash flow problems. This animated cartoon, which runs through the figures and the options, would be a good introduction to the issues and could start off a discussion about the impacts on businesses and their customers over the next few years. The BBC’s Recession Tracker gives up-to-date figures for all the key indicators of inflation, unemployment, gdp growth and so on, providing good back up, and the ‘UK Economy’ page has good coverage and comment on the latest developments.