Just to get you in the mood for the savageness of the cuts to be announced later today here is an observation on today鈥檚 release on .

In the first six months of this financial year net investment, that is the envelope within which public sponsored construction broadly falls, has only dropped slightly on spending in last financial year.

That means we haven鈥檛 felt any real shock yet.

But if the Government is to stick to its spending target announced in the Budget there will be a very nasty drop in spending to come.

Here are the figures.

Last financial year net investment totalled 拢49.5 billion. This year there is 拢39 billion in the budget.

In the first half of the past financial year 拢15.2 billion was spent, roughly that amount has been spent in the same period this year.

That mean what while 拢34.5 billion was spent in the second half of last year, there is just 拢23.8 billion left for the next six months.

So the cuts will start to hurt from now.