It must have been a seminal event judging by the coverage it received in British newspapers. The tabloid The Sun dedicated seven pages to it. The Daily Telegraph provided 16 pages of reports and commentary, The Guardian 23 pages and The Financial Times, not to be outdone, a full 26 pages.
Few occasions would ever justify such journalistic lengths. So had Her Majesty abdicated? Were Martians about to invade Scotland? Had the English soccer team finally won a penalty shoot-out against Germany?
In fact, none of the above. All that had happened was the presentation of the 2011 UK budget to the House of Commons by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne. And despite the media excitement around it, it was a dull budget in difficult times.