I'm both relieved and sorry to have alarmed anybody. While I thought it right to share the Guardian report as soon as I saw it, it did strike me as odd as Jonathan Shaw has been very insistent about the flat budget.
And I think it's right to see that as a victory given the hige pressure on Defra (and other) budgets in this public spending round. The IWA release gets it broadly right. In public you should never look too successful! -- Nigel Stanley
