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Politicians campaign in poetry but govern in prose.

Once elected, all the passion and smooth rhetoric of the soapbox tends to give way to bureaucratic official-speak and gobbledegook.

Except the Conservative manifesto suggested we would live in a "Post-Bureaucratic Age".

So how can we explain Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan's two unprompted references to "Barnett consequentials" during her interview for last night's Wales Today?

Perhaps she was speaking in a code understood only by sad political anoraks. Or perhaps the Barnett Consequentials are a new rock band, part of a 21st Century Cool Cymru.

An alternative thought is that the two unexplained references were part of a bet, a private joke along the lines of the England World Cup squad in 1998 who tried to get as many song titles into their interview answers as possible. ("Will you win, Glenn?" "No, it's just your imagination running away with you").

Keep your ears peeled for more buzzword bingo during Mrs G's first appearance answering MPs questions in the Commons at 11.30am today. Besides the Barnett consequentials, stand by for "tough, but fair" and "we're all in this together".

The lack of "Barnett consequentials" does not mean George Osborne's Budget does not affect Wales.

The Welsh Assembly Government will discover in October its share of spending cuts - 25% in Whitehall departments (over four years) outside Health and International Development.

George Osborne says these cuts total 5% more than planned under the last Labour Government's spending plans.

That did not stop Labour and Plaid Cymru-run WAG, responsible for around two thirds of public spending in Wales, issuing a strongly-worded statement condemning the Budget.

Beyond the impact on the Welsh Assembly, there is a wider impact on the Welsh people. Almost a quarter of a million people in Wales claim the Disability Living Allowance, worth up to £120 a week. They'll face new medical assessments from 2013.

Most of the near 400,000 public sector workers in Wales - from teachers to DVLA officials - will find their pay frozen for two years. Parents will have done their own calculations on the freezing of child benefit and cuts to tax credits.

But then "we're all in this together". The House of Commons has just announced that it's putting up prices in its (subsidised) cafes and bars: "This will bring cafeteria prices into line with benchmark workplace venues and bar prices into line with a competitively-priced high street pub chain."

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