Yesterday was a good day on the road to Britain’s recovery. We’re not out of the woods yet, far from it, but we are making progress. As the Chancellor said, “We are moving from rescue to recovery.”

As well as being a good day, yesterday showed the worst of politics and politicians. After months and years of sneering while the economy falters, Ed Balls appeared on Newsnight to deride the achievements of the government. To him, it is irrelevant how good the news is, he simply must make it sound bad. All of us involved in politics are guilty of this to a greater or lesser degree. That said, with few exceptions, I can’t think of many that are more partisan than Ed Balls. If people like me are becoming exasperated by the ridiculous point scoring I can only imagine what the public in general must think.

The media are not without their share of the responsibility though. They don’t want politicians appearing on Newsnight agreeing that from the country’s point of view we should all be heaving a huge sigh of relief, while not losing sight of the fact that there is still a long way to go.