"Deficit"

Thank you BBC for amplifying the tweet of my old classmate, the chancellor, who said that someone didn't say the word “deficit.” When I say thank you, it's simply because it cements my existing opinion of you nowadays, and I like having my opinions cemented. Maybe.

You only say “deficit” if you are

1. Terribly terribly dull.
2. You have accepted a discredited piece by two economists who forgot to press a certain button in Excel.
3. You have confused deficit with debt.

I'm not making that up. They forgot to press a button and came up with the idea that you should start to destroy education and healthcare as soon as your debt to GDP ratio reaches 90%.

In other words “He didn't say deficit” means “He didn't vow to eliminate healthcare, and that's bad.”