It was a particularly brutal phrase, meant to show that the politician depicted by Spitting Image as bland and grey was a macho-man of economics.
 
Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling have not been so foolish as to use the same phrase about their rescue plan for the UK banking system.
 
They realise how it would be viewed.
 
It is early days, of course, but, from the initial reaction of business we can draw the conclusion that it is certainly hurting, though we are not sure if it is working.
 
Brown and Darling may have promised to pump the incomprehensible sum of £400 billion into the financial system, but in the real world - the world most businesses live in - there has been no sign so far of the medicine working.
 
In my latest column for The Scotsman I highlighted the case of a business, divided into two, one half still doing well, the other struggling but by no means at the end of its

days.
 
The bankers dealing with the less prosperous half were coming on strong, ignoring the overall financial health of the firm.
 
Now, the bankers are under pressure from their superiors desperate to repair their balance sheets. They would argue, probably, that they are only obeying orders.
 
Shareholders, and indeed the government, want the banks to get their acts together, reduce their exposure to risk, curb their previous excesses.
 
But it is deeply unfair that the people who are bearing the brunt of this are the business men and business women of this country.
 
They are continuing to try to make a living. To turn a profit. To employ people. To pay taxes when they make money.
 
And yet they are being punished for sins which they have not committed.
 
It was not the chief executive of a ball bearing factory in Bathgate, or the window manufacturer in Wishaw, or the even the lawyer in Larbert who got the banks into this problem.
 
Twas the bankers themselves, either through exposing their institutions to what we call "toxic" products - and come on, most still don't understand - or by basing their finances on the wholesale money markets.
 
Life is not fair, some would say. And they are right.
 
But even those who say that the free market is all, must have sympathy for struggling businesses across Scotland and the UK.
 
By and large, they are not suffering because someone else has out-thought them or been quicker on their feet or been more competitive or had a better idea with the market deciding their fate.
 
They are suffering because of the decisions of others.
 
It is something that the banks, whose reputations are already at an all time low, would do well to bear in mind.
 
One final point, if you have had a bad experience at the hands of the banks, please let the Scotsman business desk know.
 
You can reach us on businessdesk@scotsman.com
 
Good luck as you try to endure the hurt. Let us hope that the government's plan also works.