i’m finding the bbc’s be your own chancellor game a lot more informative than any description of how small changes in one part of the economy changes things in another. i’ve made all the families in the scenario a bit better off, even the high earning ones, despite the fact that i raised higher rate income tax. i’ve managed to reduce unemployment and government debt and though my inflation rate has jumped up a bit too much i’m fairly happy with what i’ve done. now i have to wait and see what gordon brown does.

the game is produced by the virtual learning arcade who have a stack of other simulations to play with on subjects as diverse as alleviating child poverty and tackling traffic congestion.