As the ONS has reported this morning:
Real gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 0.3% in the three months to August 2025 compared with the three months to May 2025, a slight increase following growth of 0.2% in the three months to July 2025.
If your reaction is "whoopee" and "what's the margin for error, because that is as close to zero as things get without actually being it" then I think you will have got your sentiments right.
Meanwhile, we're heading for a crash, but Rachel Reeves won't be mentioning that today —or at any other time in the run-up to her Budget, if it hasn't happened by then. Facing reality is not something on her Budget bingo card.
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It makes me annoyed when these very small changes in GDP, itself not a comprehensive measure, command a headline in the media. It confirms my view that the media are either hard up for any snippet of news or they do not understand the insignificance of these small incremental changes. The public, hear the headline and think it must be important. Therefore, if GDP increases very slightly it is a big plus or vice versa if it falls slightly.
In any event, the figure is often revised a few months down the track. The revisions often do ‘t get a mention. Nasim Taleb, who wrote ‘Black Swan’ advised his readers to look less at the news because it was overly concerned with trifling matters, which tended to resolve themselves over a longer period. I’m not too sure about that, but I do feel the media overdramatise the mundane aspects of daily political happenings.