The British economy shrank by 0.2% in the fourth quarter of 2011

[darmstadt]

You're nearly there. Take the next logical step.

All the foreign service workers coming in from the suburbs to clean, cook and to serve those still there...

[sasguru]

All the foreign service workers coming in from the suburbs to clean, cook and to serve those still there...

Most seem too well dressed.
My point is that an alien (whether from outer space or another country) landing in London at the moment would not believe there is an economic crisis going on.

[russell]

Think Osborne will have to resign or be sacked soon, if not there could be a General Election triggered. He has cut far to much which has caused the reverse growth stat. He was warned about this by Balls.

[AtW]

What recession? Tubes and trains are full in rush hour, motorways are jam-packed If this is recession WTF is boom like?

Yes this is THE recession - if there wasn't one you'd see bigger motorways to deal with traffic, HS2,3,4 and 10 - ultimately maybe even Tube will be available to residents of Wandworth, but that's not important.

[AtW]

ConDems are squeezing the rest of the UK's balls to feed investment banks free money and that free money feeds into London, making it Yuppie boom time in the capital.

To be fair 0.5% BoE interest rates certainly help homeowners, if rates were at 10% then house market would certainly collapse and another bank bailout will be needed.

[AtW]

All the millions of unemployed destitute City bankers are sitting all day on the tube feeling sorry for themselves?

Are you saying they are abusing the public transport system by paying once for Zone 1 ticket and doing rounds on the circle line all day long so that their other half still thinks they are at work?

[BrilloPad]

Are you saying they are abusing the public transport system by paying once for Zone 1 ticket and doing rounds on the circle line all day long so that their other half still thinks they are at work?

<pedant>
To do the circle line you need zones 1+2 ticket.
</pedant>

[BrilloPad]

The evidence is everywhere. Last quarter’s worse-than-expected 0.2pc contraction was driven by a collapse in manufacturing. The decline in factory output can be traced to a decline in exports, which in turn can be blamed on the eurozone – which buys for two fifths of UK goods but is not putting its hand in its pocket any more.

from Sir Mervyn King's chirpy new year message: 'There's no reason to despair' – Telegraph Blogs

Maybe we should retaliate by not buying any of their goods

[Doggy Styles]

The evidence is everywhere. Last quarter’s worse-than-expected 0.2pc contraction was driven by a collapse in manufacturing. The decline in factory output can be traced to a decline in exports, which in turn can be blamed on the eurozone – which buys for two fifths of UK goods but is not putting its hand in its pocket any more.

from Sir Mervyn King's chirpy new year message: 'There's no reason to despair' – Telegraph Blogs

Maybe we should retaliate by not buying any of their goods

Make our own you mean? Now there's an idea.

Not sure the Germans will be happy about it though - they depend on exports so they can prop up the rest of the eurozone.

[Doggy Styles]

Think Osborne will have to resign or be sacked soon, if not there could be a General Election triggered. He has cut far to much which has caused the reverse growth stat. He was warned about this by Balls.

Cut too much? He's hardly got started. The deficit is still above £100 billion per annum. If he cut much less it would still be ballooning, Labour-style.