European growth defies uncertainty to hit six-year high

FEARS over a populist political tide sweeping across Europe have done little to set back the Continent’s economic performance after figures today showed growth at a six-year high.

The latest snapshot the eurozone’s private-sector manufacturers and services firms from IHS Markit — revealing the fastest expansion since April 2011 — comes against the backdrop of deep political uncertainty following the Brexit referendum and Donald Trump’s White House win.

Although Mark Rutte fended off Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party in last week’s Dutch elections, Marine Le Pen is likely to be in the final run-off for the French presidency in May, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel faces elections. But powerhouses France and Germany grew strongly despite rising price pressure.

The European Central Bank is pumping €80 billion (£69.2 billion) into the economy every month although the strength of the survey is usually at a level where the ECB would be hiking rates, according to IHS Markit’s chief economist Chris Williamson. “Worries about consumer spending and business confidence haven’t emerged yet and the ECB could be behind the curve,” he said.

@russ_lynch

‘There Allan was, making interesting remarks — and the media gave him a proper shoeing’

boss says white men work twice as hard,” shrieked the headlines. White males were “an endangered species”, said this dusty, embarrassing relic of Britain’s past.

Really? Actually, no. What he said was: “If you are female and if you’re from an ethnic minority background, preferably both, you are in an extremely propitious period, so go for it. For a thousand years, men have got most of these jobs. The pendulum has swung very significantly the other way now… If you are a white male, tough — you are an endangered species and you are going to have to work twice as hard.”

Like the theatre review, he was arguing the opposite case to the one that was portrayed. He was saying the right thing. And anyone who actually heard him say it would have known that. But his remarks were filleted carefully to suggest the reverse of his point and, over time, that trait has consequences. Tesco’s not a client, by the way.

So next time you read a crashingly dull Stock Exchange release or talk to a CEO who does the marketing-tosh routine and refuses to say anything remotely interesting or newsworthy, the House of Hack should shoulder a slice of the blame. Deliberate misinterpretation puts you alongside the scoundrel from the Shaftesbury Theatre. There. Now I’ve got that off my chest… lunch anyone?