After getting a taste of it this morning, I am now very impressed by the firmness of Britain's balls. Very tough, will resist any amount of outside pressure, but still very responsive. Every continental should wish he had even one of them.
In a breach of diplomatic standards, Germany's finance minister Steinbrueck criticised the UK's decision to cut VAT and raise national debt levels.
Cracks emerged in the global effort to drag the world out of recession on Thursday with Germany attacking Britain ahead of an EU summit for rushing into debt to bail out industries and pump up growth.
In a move that suggested trouble ahead for concerted European and perhaps world efforts to end the financial crisis and restore global economic growth, Germany criticised countries for rushing into untested economic rescue packages.
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
However, and not for the first time in modern history, Britain's balls proved to be much sturdier than the Germans expected.On the eve of an EU summit, a row between Germany and the UK is not really what we need.Schools Secretary Ed Balls hit back, suggesting the comments had more to do with Germany's internal politics in its ruling coalition than the nature of the global response to the economic downturn.
Mr Steinbruck is a member of the Social Democratic Party which shares power with Angela Merkel's rival Christian Democrats.
Mr Balls said Mr Steinbruck was known for his "strong and robust views" but he defended the UK's course of action in cutting taxes and raising borrowing, saying it had widespread support across the world.
"It is the right thing to do to act now to keep jobs, to keep people in their homes and to keep the economy moving," he told Sky News. "We need to save the world from a deeper downturn and we will only do that by concerted international action together. Britain, and Gordon Brown, is leading that action."
Apart from that, I think I must side with Brown's handling of th crisis.
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