I noted this comment from the Guardian on this morning's GDP figures, announced at 7 am, with despair:
Britain's economy unexpectedly grew in the final three months of last year, official figures show, easing pressure on the chancellor, Rachel Reeves.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics show gross domestic product rose by 0.1% in the fourth quarter of 2024, beating the forecasts of City economists and the Bank of England for a decline of 0.1%.
The latest snapshot will provide a shot in the arm for Labour after the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, faced intense criticism for denting business and consumer confidence with her £40bn tax-raising October budget.
The pretence that growth of 0.1% is in any meaningful way different from a decline of 0.1% is utterly absurd. It is a difference of two thousandths. In the overall scheme of things, and given both the absurdity of the GDP measure and the vast number of estimates that go to make this up, that is very politely called a rounding a difference. Slightly less politely, it is referred to as the square root of bugger-all.
If political point scoring is this desperate, then it really has lost touch with reality. That is because nothing about this difference, or the failure against the targets that Labour has set for itself that it represents, will have any impact on the well-being of people who are in need in this country, who should be the epicentre of their concern.
I long for grown-up political debate in the UK. We very rarely get it. Instead, pettiness wins. No wonder we're in a mess.
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As you infer, this is clutching at straws, thin gruel.
Well, we don’t want to make the state look successful do we? No…………………….
Alas, it does seem to be/is the case that the major political parties which comprise our (mal)ruling elite are maximally concerned to win within caste squabbles than in the deep thinking decent governance.
But one example of this is the selective choice of prominently presentation data, not least that which is back-grounded.
“In 2022/23, the number of children living in poverty increased by 100,000 in 2021/22 to 4.3 million children/ That’s 30% of children in the U. K.”
https://www.actionforchildren.org.uk/blog/where-is-child-poverty-increasing-in-the-uk/
P. S. Might this misplaced squabbling only be possible with the connivance of the Main Stream Media?
Not to mention the absurdity of imagining that a 0.1 per cent growth in GDP – in one quarter, mind – is ‘easing pressure on the chancellor’ and ‘will provide a shot in the arm for Labour’. Was this piece ghost-written by Morgan McSweeney?
>Was this piece ghost-written by Morgan McSweeney?
I’m increasingly convinced the entire paper is.
Grown-up political debate will not be occur whilst those involved (MPs) are allowed to and do behave like (some) primary school children. As a retired primary school teacher friend of mine stated, if children in her class had behaved so badly, she would have given them detention. Immature point scoring is to the fore rather than grown up debate about policies and possible new laws, and representing their constituents in these debates.
I rather like this morning’s New Statesman’s take:
“Good morning, and happy Bake Your Own GDP Narrative Day. The UK economy is growing! Sort of: GDP was up a whopping 0.1 per cent in the last quarter of 2024; BUT per-capita GDP seems to have fallen (BUT this is based on projections that will be revised); BUT real wages seem have grown; BUT business investment is down. So, if you’re on one side of the house you can claim the UK’s economy is stagnating, and if you’re on the other you can say that the economy has grown since Labour won the election. Both are true enough.”
PYO indeed.
🙂
We really are screwed
I think “Rachel from Accounts” as she is often referred to may be on her way out. An article on the BBC claims that she may have overstated her time at the BoE on her LinkedIn profile. My guess is someone has pointed a journalist into a certain direction with a few to start the removal process.
I can hardly hear myself think on the omnibus, what with the cheering and dancing and money being thrown in the air in response to this joyous news from the City.
Not.
0.1%?
GDP?
What’s THAT got to do with the price of parsnips?
🙂