I’ve had some thoughts about the “recovery” percolating in my head for a week or so now, ever since I read the headlines saying, “UK GDP: Fastest growth for three years” and that Osborne bloke was crowing, “This shows that Britain’s hard work is paying off & the country is on the path to prosperity.” The path to prosperity is a phrase that some spin weevil has come up with and must be repeated over and over again.
The problem is, these figures and this picture appear to be at odds with a lot of peoples experiences and a lot of data that’s being reported on:
- food spending has fallen by 8.5% during the recession;
- food bank usage soars to record levels– in fact it trebles in under a year;
- Red Cross to distribute food and succor in the UK for first time since World War II;
- Estonia is the only European country with higher rates of fuel poverty than the UK;
- 14% rise in people living in temporary accomodation (“B&Bs”);
I could go on but you probably get the gist. As Simply Red once sang, Money to Tight to Mention (back in the days before the ginger crooner was a multi millionaire obviously). Given the dire situation in some of the European countries, to find it’s only plucky Estonia is outperforming us in terms of fuel poverty (at least we beat them in the Eurovision this year), is a particularly damning indictment of our perilous situation here in the UK.
But if you look at the business pages, it’s full of stuff like this:
- London super rich give private jet market a lift;
- China prepares to liberalise finance as hedge funds and estate agents salivate;
- Deloitte promotes Mauritius as tax haven to avoid big payouts to poor African nations;
- Royal Mail shares: hedge fund takes biggest private stake;
- The ‘vulture’ funds that could rip the Co-op apart;
- Warren Buffett sees Berkshire Hathaway profits jump 29pc to $5.05bn
It’s business as usual for big business, with billions in deal value, profit and everything associated with it. Kind of makes me wonder just who exactly this recovery is for…