But then, why quibble over what amounts to little more than an innocently misplaced decimal point?

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"In one case it looks like someone just put the decimal point in the wrong place!"

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Joe the Plumber, icon that he became, was not ultimately all about marginal tax brackets worked out to the umpteenth decimal point.

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The investment consultants earn their reward for scrutinising, down to the decimal point, how well various managers have done.

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Above all, in the best (or worst) Strauss tradition, Mr Stoiber has laid into the Bonn government on everything from joining the euro (he insists the criteria be met to the last decimal point) to autobahn tolls.

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Building on the somewhat deeper tradition of the Golden Bears, Tedford was able to reel off an amazing 8 straight winning seasons, coming within a decimal point of leading the team to the 2004 BCS National Championship game.

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They simply misplaced a decimal point.

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Or at least flat to one decimal point, which is as many as the chancellor has previously had the temerity to mention. (He might, just, be able to say it has fallen as a share of GDP - but that, too, would depend on the number of decimal points, at which point things start to get a bit silly).

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