That's because there isn't any.

 

Growth went UP in the quarter despite all the doom and gloom the Independent are reporting, 0.5 over 3 months is not much but it is still an increase so the economy is still growing even if it is growing slowly, if that 0.5 was over the year that would be 2% GDP, not to be sniffed at.

 

A double dip recession is a serious possibility but it will be an even more certainty if people talk Britain down, people reading this article for example will probably start being more cautious with their spending or decide on a cheaper or no holiday or change their mind about the fitted kitchen incase we get back into recession whereas people should be spending to help keep the economy up.

 

 

Growth went UP in the quarter despite all the doom and gloom the Independent are reporting, 0.5 over 3 months is not much but it is still an increase so the economy is still growing even if it is growing slowly, if that 0.5 was over the year that would be 2% GDP, not to be sniffed at.

 

A double dip recession is a serious possibility but it will be an even more certainty if people talk Britain down, people reading this article for example will probably start being more cautious with their spending or decide on a cheaper or no holiday or change their mind about the fitted kitchen incase we get back into recession whereas people should be spending to help keep the economy up.

Uh, yeah, I don't know if you noticed but growth is plummeting. That small increase might be useful if it were over the year, but it won't be as it's a fall from 1.2%...so let's think about all those claims you were making of explosive growth.

 

Talking Britain down has nothing to do with it (and how would a holiday help US? :/ That's spending almost completely concentrated on foreign countries. If anything, cheaper holidays would benefit us as people would be staying in the UK), of course people are going to be cutting back if their jobs are at risk - as the government has done by slashing public spending in such a fashion, which impacts on PRIVATE contracts. And the article pretty much proves that you've been talking absolute bollocks about the 'private boom' that was apparently going to save us all along. As we've been saying for months.

The upcoming financial collapse

 

I watched the last 10 minutes of that... they suggested that the Icelandic bankruptcy was due to sovereign debt, which shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the situation.

Growth went UP in the quarter despite all the doom and gloom the Independent are reporting, 0.5 over 3 months is not much but it is still an increase so the economy is still growing even if it is growing slowly, if that 0.5 was over the year that would be 2% GDP, not to be sniffed at.

 

A double dip recession is a serious possibility but it will be an even more certainty if people talk Britain down, people reading this article for example will probably start being more cautious with their spending or decide on a cheaper or no holiday or change their mind about the fitted kitchen incase we get back into recession whereas people should be spending to help keep the economy up.

 

OK, there's no good news that's RELEVANT to report, as all economists have acknowledged that the strong second-quarter figures are solely due to Labour. All the more recent economic indicators, as Labour's economic policies start to work their way out of the figures, are very poor, with the possible exception of the unexpectedly strong retail figures for July.

 

And you think it's because of people like ME that are "talking Britain down"?!? It's not idiots like Cameron, Clegg and Osborne, who have regularly been saying things like Britain is "broke", "bankrupt", "in a total mess" - which, as David Blanchflower has said, is a complete faux pas for a government to do, and is directly responsible for the nosedive to historic lows in consumer confidence indexes since the Coalition took office?

I watched the last 10 minutes of that... they suggested that the Icelandic bankruptcy was due to sovereign debt, which shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the situation.

 

All about the carry trade based on debt, debt guaranteed by governments which is called sovereign debt.

The OECD has downgraded its global economic growth forecast, and has called for cuts to be delayed.

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/se...rowth-forecasts

The OECD has downgraded its global economic growth forecast, and has called for cuts to be delayed.

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/se...rowth-forecasts

 

"The US is expected to grow at an annualised rate of 2% in the third quarter, slowing to 1.2% in the fourth, after 1.6% in the second quarter and 3.7% in the first three months of the year. In Japan, GDP growth is forecast at 0.7% in the fourth quarter after 0.6% in the third.

 

The UK is set to grow at an annualised rate of 2.7% in the third quarter, slowing to 1.5% in the final three months of the year."

 

 

So we are going to have stronger growth than both America and Japan later in the year ;)

 

 

 

 

"The US is expected to grow at an annualised rate of 2% in the third quarter, slowing to 1.2% in the fourth, after 1.6% in the second quarter and 3.7% in the first three months of the year. In Japan, GDP growth is forecast at 0.7% in the fourth quarter after 0.6% in the third.

 

The UK is set to grow at an annualised rate of 2.7% in the third quarter, slowing to 1.5% in the final three months of the year."

So we are going to have stronger growth than both America and Japan later in the year ;)

 

The OECD also overestimated the UK's growth in the second quarter. What's important is the trend in the OECD's forecasts - which show that their third-quarter forecast is considerably down on their second-quarter forecast, with a huge fall for the fourth-quarter forecast.

"The US is expected to grow at an annualised rate of 2% in the third quarter, slowing to 1.2% in the fourth, after 1.6% in the second quarter and 3.7% in the first three months of the year. In Japan, GDP growth is forecast at 0.7% in the fourth quarter after 0.6% in the third.

 

The UK is set to grow at an annualised rate of 2.7% in the third quarter, slowing to 1.5% in the final three months of the year."

So we are going to have stronger growth than both America and Japan later in the year ;)

We've had stronger growth than Japan for most of the last 15 years or more. Japan's economy has been static for years.

Britain's trade deficit between May and July is the worst since WW2, with imports outstripping exports by £13bn. So much for this export miracle that will save our economy according to Craig and the Conservatives!

Britain has seen the largest rise in employment since records began - with 286,000 people landing new jobs in the last quarter

 

Strange how doom and gloom gets such high attention on here but positive news never gets a mention ;)

The quarterly rise in employment, which was the largest since the ONS began collecting the data in 1971, was driven by a rise in both part-time and full-time workers.

 

Those in part-time work increased by 166,000 quarter-on-quarter to 7.9 million in the three months to July.

 

But the number of full-time workers soared by 121,000 to 21.2 million in an encouraging sign for the UK labour market.

 

The number of full-time students in employment rose by 47,000 in the three months to July, while those students classed as economically inactive fell by 62,000.

 

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Business/...al_Statistics__

The fact you've resorted to quoting Sky News speaks volumes.

 

Here's a more balanced article from the BBC:

 

 

The number of people unemployed in the UK fell by 8,000 to 2.47 million in the three months to July, figures show.

 

This meant the overall UK unemployment rate remained at 7.8%, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

 

However, the figures also showed the claimant count - those out of work and receiving unemployment benefit - rose by 2,300 in August to 1.47 million.

 

Many economists fear unemployment will rise later in the year when government cuts begin to kick-in.

 

There is concern that the UK's labour market will not be strong enough to support the public sector job losses looming under next month's spending review.

 

The fall in unemployment was below the drop of about 40,000 which analysts had expected.

 

Addressing the TUC conference in Manchester, Bank of England governor Mervyn King told delegates that "the big picture is that unemployment is higher than before the crisis but lower than many had feared a year ago".

 

'Destructive'

 

Employment Minister Chris Grayling said the rising claimant count showed that new jobs were not being filled by people on benefits - and underlined the need for urgent reform of the benefits system.

 

But shadow work and pensions secretary Yvette Cooper MP said the data showed it was a "foolhardy time" to make big spending cuts, highlighting the rise in benefit claimants as "grim".

 

"This is even before the major cuts take hold. Clearly the economy is not out of the woods yet," Ms Cooper said.

 

"Cutting support for jobs and help to get the unemployed back to work right now is reckless and destructive, and will end up costing us all more."

 

David Kern, chief economist at the British Chambers of Commerce, reiterated his forecast that UK unemployment was likely to peak at about 2.65 million in the first half of 2012.

 

"While there were some positive developments, particularly a big rise in employment and a fall in inactivity, the number of people working part-time because they could not find a full-time job has increased further," he said.

 

"There is no room for complacency and the labour market must prepare for the impact on jobs that will result from the government's deficit-cutting measures."

 

Part-time workers

 

Within the UK, the jobless rate in Wales fell to 8.4% from 8.3%, in England it dropped to 7.7% from 7.9% and in Northern Ireland it fell to 6.8% from 7.1%.

 

However, in Scotland, the rate increased to 8.9% from 8.1%.

 

The number of people employed increased by 286,000 in the three months to July, the ONS said - the biggest quarterly rise since records began in 1971.

 

However, this was driven by a 166,000 rise in part-time workers, with the ONS saying more students may be taking on part-time jobs alongside their studies.

 

The ONS figures also showed that average earnings increased by 1.5% in the year to July, compared with a rate of 1.3% the previous month.

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11310097

The fact you've resorted to quoting Sky News speaks volumes.

 

Here's a more balanced article from the BBC:

The number of people unemployed in the UK fell by 8,000 to 2.47 million in the three months to July, figures show.

 

This meant the overall UK unemployment rate remained at 7.8%, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

 

However, the figures also showed the claimant count - those out of work and receiving unemployment benefit - rose by 2,300 in August to 1.47 million.

 

Many economists fear unemployment will rise later in the year when government cuts begin to kick-in.

 

There is concern that the UK's labour market will not be strong enough to support the public sector job losses looming under next month's spending review.

 

The fall in unemployment was below the drop of about 40,000 which analysts had expected.

 

Addressing the TUC conference in Manchester, Bank of England governor Mervyn King told delegates that "the big picture is that unemployment is higher than before the crisis but lower than many had feared a year ago".

 

'Destructive'

 

Employment Minister Chris Grayling said the rising claimant count showed that new jobs were not being filled by people on benefits - and underlined the need for urgent reform of the benefits system.

 

But shadow work and pensions secretary Yvette Cooper MP said the data showed it was a "foolhardy time" to make big spending cuts, highlighting the rise in benefit claimants as "grim".

 

"This is even before the major cuts take hold. Clearly the economy is not out of the woods yet," Ms Cooper said.

 

"Cutting support for jobs and help to get the unemployed back to work right now is reckless and destructive, and will end up costing us all more."

 

David Kern, chief economist at the British Chambers of Commerce, reiterated his forecast that UK unemployment was likely to peak at about 2.65 million in the first half of 2012.

 

"While there were some positive developments, particularly a big rise in employment and a fall in inactivity, the number of people working part-time because they could not find a full-time job has increased further," he said.

 

"There is no room for complacency and the labour market must prepare for the impact on jobs that will result from the government's deficit-cutting measures."

 

Part-time workers

 

Within the UK, the jobless rate in Wales fell to 8.4% from 8.3%, in England it dropped to 7.7% from 7.9% and in Northern Ireland it fell to 6.8% from 7.1%.

 

However, in Scotland, the rate increased to 8.9% from 8.1%.

 

The number of people employed increased by 286,000 in the three months to July, the ONS said - the biggest quarterly rise since records began in 1971.

 

However, this was driven by a 166,000 rise in part-time workers, with the ONS saying more students may be taking on part-time jobs alongside their studies.

 

The ONS figures also showed that average earnings increased by 1.5% in the year to July, compared with a rate of 1.3% the previous month.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11310097

 

 

There was still 121,000 new full time jobs that were created during that period too, indeed a lot of new jobs were part time but 121,000 new full time ones is a good positive

 

And the figures to me also suggest that the majority of new jobs are going to immigrants as the number of actutal unemployed hasn't changed much so it is up to the unemployed to search harder for jobs and to lower their sights and expectations a bit if they are to take jobs that immigrants are getting, immigrants have a strong work ethic which sadly the indigenous population don't seem to judging by these figures

Another sign that the general public seem to be feeling good about the government and their prospects B)

 

 

 

Asda falling behind rivals as shoppers move upmarket

 

Asda is under intense pressure to reverse its gloomy run after losing market share to rivals for the ninth consecutive quarter.

 

The embattled grocer has been struggling to woo shoppers after its strategy of focusing on low-price products was found wanting.

 

Just last month, chief executive Andy Clarke admitted the quality of Asda’s food had not been as good as it might have been, which was borne out by the latest figures from the industry yesterday.

 

Data from market research firm Kantar Worldpanel revealed that Britain’s second largest grocer enjoyed slower growth than all of its main rivals over the summer.

 

The market grew by 4.3pc during the 12 weeks to September 5, according to Kantar.

 

But Asda underperformed with growth of just 2.6pc as many shoppers opted for more upmarket offerings from competitors, the data shows.

Sainsbury’s saw its sales growth rise 5.5pc along with Morrisons, up 5.9pc, while the purveyor of the poshest food of all – Waitrose – notched up growth of 9.3pc. Tesco remained virtually unchanged at 4pc. The figures were driven by shoppers’s growing preference for premium products, according to Kantar spokesman Edward Garner.

‘While uncertainty in the economy means that value is still important consumers are placing increasing importance on the freshness and quality of the food they buy,’

 

The figures also showed the discounters continuing to languish behind the market with only Lidl recording a slight increase in market share and Netto, which was

recently bought by Asda for £778m, experiencing a decline in underlying growth of 6pc

 

 

 

When people feel bad about their prospects and about the government the first thing they tend to do is eat cheaper and buy more bargain food so the fact that the likes of Waitrose are positively BOOMING and upmarket and quality food sales are going through the roof is a sign that the general public feel confident about the economy and confident about the government

 

 

 

 

I think Waitrose did rather better than might have been expected through the recession so the fact that they are still doing well is meaningless.

I think Waitrose did rather better than might have been expected through the recession so the fact that they are still doing well is meaningless.

 

But Sainsbury's premium products are selling well too while more downmarket rivals are suffering big time

 

I think the fact that shoppers are buying more upmarket products is a sign of economic confidence

LMAO. You CANNOT be serious Craig. You think WAITROSE doing well is a sign of general consumer confidence? Have you considered it might be because the upper-class people who make up Waitrose's clientele are now confident that they won't have to pay higher taxes, safe in the knowledge the poor will bear the brunt of the deficit reduction instead?

But Sainsbury's premium products are selling well too while more downmarket rivals are suffering big time

 

I think the fact that shoppers are buying more upmarket products is a sign of economic confidence

But, again, that was happening in the recession. The expected drift towards cheaper supermarkets simply didn't happen.

LMAO. You CANNOT be serious Craig. You think WAITROSE doing well is a sign of general consumer confidence? Have you considered it might be because the upper-class people who make up Waitrose's clientele are now confident that they won't have to pay higher taxes, safe in the knowledge the poor will bear the brunt of the deficit reduction instead?

 

You spend your life searching for negatives I spend my life searching for positives :) it may not be a massive positive but it is better than doom and gloom