Squinty Bridge

Try the new motorway along the Northern Coast of Spain. When we entered the (then) new section near Viveiro, a mere 3 days after it opened, we found a pothole the size of a car tyre in the fast lane.

A year later, it had doubled in size and was still unrepaired.

More good news for the economy.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24910587

And even more good news, it just doesnt stop
http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/201...threshold.html

Looks like things are heading in a more positive direction. I had compared the unemployment rates a few weeks ago from where I am in the US and where I will be heading back to in the UK. Massachusetts is at 7.6% and west Yorkshire is at 4.8% which is a positive thing for me.

Yes absolutely heading in the right direction and at a pace that has surprised most experts, its not all good obviously, nowhere is but very positive indeed. It was similar for us, where we were was over 8% but here it is a few % less.

Compared to places like Spain and Greece, unemployment figures in the UK are positively heavenly.

Australia seems to be doing ok though.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/aus...-57-2013-11-07

Even in isolation the rate is good but yes compared to many other countries it is excellent and continuing to head in the right direction.

There are just under nine million people in the UK, of working age, classed as "economically inactive". Basically many of them have simply given up trying to find work and they are not counted in unemployment figures.

The last time West Yorkshire really had an unemployment rate of 4.8% was probably around the time the troops were coming back from the front after beating the Hun.

Unemployment figures in the UK are a pack of lies and have been for decades.

So the UK is the same as every other country then. Many say the true unemployment rate in Australia is close to 16%.

I worked with labor market data for years in the US. All of these data are estimates, and at best are subject to errors inherent in the estimation process. At worst the data are manipulated for political reasons.

I would also say the UK is pretty much the same as other countries. Actual unemployment is likely far greater than the politicians would have us believe, but no more so than any other developed country.

So, putting Australia aside for a moment, if indeed it is ever possible to do so, one can glean very little from any 'improvement' in UK unemployment figures, particularly if the average wage is still declining in actual let alone real terms.

What we do know is that the UK sovereign debt issue continues to go from BAD to WORSE, as it would if one runs 100 billion pound deficits year after year.

What is more, the average citizen is finding it increasingly hard to make ends meet as their cost of living continues to rise much faster than incomes, which would probably explain why, in spite of things getting better, more are inclined to vote Labour at the next election (Nov 1st poll).

If it was simply The Economy Stupid, George and David, one would think, would be getting greater support. Clearly the economy's improvement is in actual fact touching relatively few.

There are many who can't wait for interest rates to rise so they can finally get more from their savings to live off. Heaven help the broader economy when they actually do.

Regardless of the rate of unemployment it is dropping and dropping faster than most thought it would, that is good positive news.
The economies improvement actually appears to be touching many people from what I am seeing and hearing.
Its like Mark Carney of the BOE said, you dont have to be an optimist to see that the glass is half full.