Sketch: You've never had it so good... or bad From now until the general election the Conservatives will be attempting to perform a tricky rhetorical balancing act. Economically, they'll argue, things are looking good - but also looking bad. When they're arguing that things are looking good, it's because they want you to thank them for rescuing the country's finances. And when they're arguing that things are looking bad, it's because they want you to worry that, without the Conservatives in charge, the country's finances would instantly collapse. As you approach the polling booth, they hope that these competing sensations of optimism and pessimism will somehow unite in your mind. The future's bright - all thanks to the Tories! But the future's dark - better stick with the Tories! To adapt Harold Macmillan: most of our people have never had it so good. Or bad. This afternoon in the Commons, David Cameron used his statement about the weekend's G20 summit to make this very case. Along with the USA, he said, Britain was economically "leading the pack"; but, at the same time, "warning signs in the global economy" showed that it was "more important than ever that we stick to our long-term economic plan," because this plan - which strictly speaking is a Conservative rather than Coalition plan - was "the only way to secure a better future for our country." There was something rather stern, paternally stern, about the way he said this - as though any member of the public who ends up voting for Labour or Ukip will only have themselves to blame, and needn't come running to Mr Cameron when the pound is replaced by the potato and their children are living off shoes. If voters do indeed prove so overcome by youthful folly that they decide on anything other than a Tory government, Mr Cameron has a good mind to send them to their rooms to think about what they've done. He won't be angry with them, you understand. Just disappointed. Ed Miliband - still apparently in position, to the noisy delight of Tory backbenchers - believed he'd spotted an inconsistency in the Prime Minister's thinking. "He tells us there are red lights flashing on the global economy," said the man leading the Labour Party at time of going to press. I think that's what's known as getting your excuses in early. He used to tell us that the problems in the British economy were all to do with the British government and nothing to do with international factors. Now he wants to tell us that, on his watch, they're all to do with international factors, and nothing to do with the British government! Mr Cameron retaliated, stung. "I'm very happy to defend, and take some credit for, what is happening in the British economy!" he cried. Growth at three per cent! The biggest unemployment on record! Four hundred thousand new businesses! Because of the difficult decisions we took, the British economy is doing well! Things are looking good. Albeit looking bad. But also good. While at the same time bad. In summary: gad. Or bood. It's all very simple, really.