Whisper it, but the British economy may in better shape than you think… – Spectator Blogs

Doom and gloom is all around. This is another winter, if not of discontent, then certainly of persistent grumbling. Optimism is as rare as a Scottish victory at Twickenham and, frankly, just as fanciful a thought. That, at any rate, is today’s conventional wisdom. Fleet Street looks to a Triple Dip recession and ponders what side dishes will best complement the Chancellor’s broiled reputation.

And yet, and yet, I wonder – hesitantly, I grant you – if all this is quite accurate. Fleet Street, like Westminster, is often fighting the last war. Worse still, it tends to presume that what has happened will continue to happen and that present trends will last forever and a day and so on. No wonder the press is always surprised when this proves to be not the case. It is almost touching.

But things will change. They will pick-up too. It is a matter of when, not, I think, if.