Britain exits longest recession on record

[Win2Win]

So we exit the recession with a whopping +0.1% ... hang on a minute, this is only a preliminary figure not the actual one, and the last few have all been decreased a month later. So we may actually still be in it!!

So now I suppose the government will brag about how good they've handled it :splapme

[mick56]

So we exit the recession with a whopping +0.1% ... hang on a minute, this is only a preliminary figure not the actual one, and the last few have all been decreased a month later. So we may actually still be in it!!

So now I suppose the government will brag about how good they've handled it :splapme

Yes members from my generation might recall the time when you took for granted that our politicians where honorable people who told the truth and believed passionately in making this a better country for all.
These days the amount of justly earned cynicism they receive makes you wonder just how they have the front to continue.I feel that even labour MPS are so removed and out of touch with the way that the majority of us live,that they have not got the experiance to be there in the first place.

After the revelations of last year it does make you wonder and dread what is coming next.

[barrelmaniac]

Unfortunately I don't have much faith in polititions, my opinion is that its just a case of choosing the partry that is 'less bad than the others' - but have they learnt any lessons from the whole expenses saga? Not nearly enough in my opinion, Although its a publicity thing Cameron did act much stronger than Brown when the whole thing blew up, which is another black mark against Brown rather than it being a gold star for Cameron.

And as for the economy, Labour eliminated boom and bust- Hang on a minute they had control under one of the biggest boom and busts in modern times- the whole thig is laughable, If they didnt have a clue what was happening back then it fills me with little confidence that they really know what they are doing now- I could see that the country was living beyond its means but the polititions are so out of touch that most of them didnt have a clue.

All I know is that from a Labour background I shall be voting to get Labour out of power at the next election, and lets hope that the trickle down wealth that would be possible under the conservatives will take effect- It will be no easy task though with the UK's debt and deficit.

[tovarich]

0.1% ??? If I could afford it I'd buy a can of beer to celebrate. Anyway, we all know it's a lie. As keith says, it will change back again next month.

[barrelmaniac]

0.1% ??? If I could afford it I'd buy a can of beer to celebrate. Anyway, we all know it's a lie. As keith says, it will change back again next month.

yes, quite possibly it would further have damaged the economy if the uk had stayed in recession, hopefully if this tiny growth is rounded down the uk will be doing slightly better by then anyway..... but of course thats not guarenteed either

[scoobydoo]

After the revelations of last year it does make you wonder and dread what is coming next.

Yes Mick come May, it'll be..."Eton Boy" to the rescue...be afraid...be very afraid!

[Win2Win]

Strange how the countries that through Billions at it running up massive debt, are the last to come out! :splapme

[tophatter]

To be fair the last quaters growth was actually revised upwards rather than downwards from the prelimerary figure so it can go up or down and can actually be revised as much as 10 years later.

Im not an economist so dont know the ins and outs of throwing money at it and its effectiveness but I think a lot of the other countires actually had sharper falls in output over a shorter period of time which means they bounce back quicker and sharper but the cost in unemployment and its social effects is higher. Also we are one of the main financial centres in the world and that must have had a knock on effect due to the banking crisis. We saw what happened in America when Bush let the big banks go down and we could not repeat it here.

[barrelmaniac]

Im a bit bitter about it all, I saw the bad times looming and with great difficulty put myself in a situation where i would have had a nice chunk towards a property that I would have got dirt cheap (or at least paying what I think the bricks mortar and the land is worth) but instead prices have been kept artificially high by the borrowing by the uk government, which in turn I will have to suffer from by paying higher taxes having poorer public services etc -- and now the economy will suffer for years, Im not saying that the uk government (with our money) should have not have borrowed or bailed the banks but I do have an issue with the current deficit as Labour are just writing blank cheques in the hope they will get elected again next time. Basically those idiots Brown and Bliar shouldnt have let this happen in the first place, this is what can happen when 1 or two men think they know everything, Brown especially is renowned in his party for not even listening to other views or opinions.

[vegyjones]

I think all the murdoch owned news outlets are going to make a big deal of the recesson leading up to the election and quote figures as to its effects on general income, national debt and unemployment.

However, when all is said and done, (and even considering that it may be far from over) I don't think that the effects of this recession have been that bad.

Relatively speaking, it could have been far worse. People haven't been driven to the depths of despair.

I think Gordon Brown is a good Prime Minister who has done an okay job. He is just unfortunate that we live in a time when leaders have to have a persona and he happens to have the personality of a cabbage. It is a shame that politics is based this way, but that's the way it has become.

The saying is you don't know what you have got until it is gone, and I fear that if the Tories get into power then we will be left rueing whatwe have let ourselves in for.

[tophatter]

The thing that really worries me is that if you listen to all the economists they are saying the main problem now is people are keeping their purses and wallets shut and saving money.

For the recovery to really take off we need people spending money. If the mood music the Tories play is one of austerity and thrift then they risk stalling it before its even begun.

The trouble is making cuts and slashing public spending is like red meat to them. They cant wait to get slashing and will use the public debt as their excuse. It needs to be done but in a rational way and from a position of strength. I just worry Cameron will get in with a small majority and be a weak Prime Minister even before he has begun and react rashly. And as for Osborne - dont trust him, he will be looking to make friends for his eventul leadership bid.

[barrelmaniac]

Yes TH I also agree with you on quite a few of your issues, the problem is that the uk is in this mess fairly deep, and yes big cuts probably will be a problem, but a massive debt and deficit continuing to spiral out of control will have a worse effect long term so a balancing of the two needs to be made, personally I think there is so much general waste in public spending and there should have been more efforts to get this waste down then hopefully there is room to make cuts that hopefully won't be disasterous. We don't want to end up like Japan or Greece. Japan unfortunately has the worst of both worlds with fighting off deflation and having such a huge debt.

Vegy, I have tried to balance Browns lack of personality with what he has done, but unfortunately there has been too many mistakes made, from when he was chancellor, and the whole inactivity of the expenses scam got my back up too. The problem is I don't trust him, but as you say lets hope its not out of the frying pan and into the fire

[lowe1]

All this recession buisness and govt debt is way over my head but what i do know is that for the millions of working families who havent lost their jobs ( ok sorry about those that have) the last 18 months have been pretty good

Food is a lot cheaper

eating out and dining is a lot cheaper

clothes are a lot cheaper

holidays and hotels have cheaper than i can ever imagine.

Shops are having such a hard time that the discounts you can now get on products has been exellent.

If you were in the buying market for a house then the last 18 months has been exellent.
People go on about 70% less mortgages were offered ect ect but if you had perfect credit rating and a good deposit then there was no problem in getting a very cheap mortgage.

So i would say for the majority of working people on the street the recession has had its good points

[mathare]

So i would say for the majority of working people on the street the recession has had its good points

Bizarrely enough the recession gave me the freedom to quit my (well-paid) job in the summer without the need to go back to work for a good while yet. Yes, we have savings but only now, 4 or 5 months later, am I needing to touch those. The mortgage has never been an issue as we're on a tracker and the interest rate just kept dropping - it's been brilliant. And as Tony says, so many bargains to be had in the shops and online too.

[barrelmaniac]

Indeed, this recession has been nowhere near as bad as the early 90's. I was not old enough to be working back then but I do remember that it was a time far worse than the current recession, stimulus is a good idea as long as there is not uncontrolable levels of debt which we are not too far away from, for those that are lucky enough not to have lost their jobs its been fair weather (unless they lost money in investments such as shares etc), but for everyone that has jost a job they needed it is a personal tradgedy for each person, thankfully through stimulation and adaptation of the uk workforce it hasnt been as bad as what it could have been. Hopefully lessons have been learned and this type of thing wont happen again, but personally I won't hold my breath, and although things are more upbeat we are not completely out of the woods yet in this crisis.

[tophatter]

And thats the whole crux of it. In the 90's the Tories said unemployment was a price well worth paying and if it isnt hurting it isnt working. They will revert to type if they win the election. They will concentrate on the cutting and slashing and the end result will be a whole new group of people fearful for their jobs and they will stop spending money. That will stall the recovery or even put it back in recession, it certainly wont help it and then benefit claims will go up and tax revenues fall even faster.

Leaving aside the whys and wherefors of how this recession occurred, i think its been handled pretty well and I worry that too much cutting and slashing after the election will put us back into recession and we know the Tories track record of looking after people during recessions is appalling.

[scoobydoo]

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/...90_468x321.jpg

Just think... your next chancellor might be number 7 in this picture. Now I don't wish to get political but.... doesn't he look like a right !

[mathare]

Isn't George Osborne's real name Gideon or something?

[scoobydoo]

Isn't George Osborne's real name Gideon or something?

Probably.:D That just shouldn't be allowed, to have a chancellor called Gideon these days surely? I know he is absolutely minted so he won't care about cutting the state back, won't affect him in the slightest.

[mathare]

From Wikipedia:
"George Gideon Oliver Osborne (born 23 May 1971) is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom, and has been the Member of Parliament for Tatton since 2001. He is currently Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. He is heir to the Osborne baronetcy of Ballentaylor, County Tipperary, Ireland, this makes him one of what is known in Ireland as the Ascendancy, the old Anglo-Irish aristocracy."

How posh is he?

[tophatter]

He is indeed. Changed his name to george as a teenager. He is also heir to the osbourne Baronetcy of ballentaylor. I think he is heir to some kind of wallpaper company.

He makes Dave Cameron look humble.

[mathare]

Oh, and he was originally called Gideon but changed it when he was younger, naming himself after his grandfather.

[mathare]

I think he is heir to some kind of wallpaper company.

Yes, a luxury wallpaper company no less. None of this cheap B&Q stuff.

[tophatter]

And he has a smirk that makes him look like the Joker.