Beware, the time is coming, the end is nigh...

If you're going to have to do something which you know people are not going to like, one well-tried approach is to circulate rumours - or even positive statements - that what's going to happen is much worse than what is actually going to happen, so that when it does happen, people will say "Phew, well that's not as bad as I feared". Was this what the Prime Minister was doing in his latest "doom and gloom" speech the other day? We can only hope so!