Britain has world's top economy

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/br...exit-rt7j9lccb

Britain has world's top economy

FTSE reaches another record high as Britain ends the year as strongest advanced economy

https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5067/5...f071babe_b.jpg

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Originally Posted by The Times

Britain ended last year as the strongest of the world’s advanced economies with growth accelerating in the six months after the Brexit vote.

Business activity hit a 17-month high last month, meaning that the economy grew by 2.2 per cent last year — more than the six other leading nations, including the US, Germany and Japan.

Far from slowing after the referendum in June, as predicted by the Treasury and Bank of England, growth appeared to have improved. GDP grew at 0.3 per cent and 0.6 per cent in the first two quarters of last year, compared with 0.6 per cent and an estimated 0.5 per cent in the final period.

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Belfast records strongest growth of any major British city

http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/web/Mu...ast-Invest.jpg

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Originally Posted by The Times

Belfast experienced the strongest economic growth of any UK city in 2015, official figures suggest. The growth rate is measured using Gross Value Added (GVA) per head.

In crude terms, it is calculated by adding up the incomes generated by people and companies and dividing that sum by the population. GVA per head in Belfast grew by 4.7%, compared to 4.5% in Edinburgh, 2.6% in Cardiff and 1.6% in London.

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FTSE winning streak extends to record 11th day https://t.co/viXPt8hKkM

— Financial Times (@FinancialTimes) January 10, 2017

FTSE at an all time high, cities outside of London doing really well and outperforming other countries.

I've noticed more investment myself in my own city of Liverpool. If what is going through planning permission is to get built next year, we'll have more skyscrapers going up than we did in 2006 to 2007 when billions flowed to us.

All of this also puts us in a stronger position when we start signing our own trade deals. #treasureisland

Thoughts?

Christ if anyone believes that click baity title they really need to step back for a moment.

On the first quote, official figures aren't out yet so the whole argument is pointless until it's official. But even so, we're still pretty much playing catch up, except in the case of Japan which simply has a declining population.
http://i.imgur.com/divl48x.png

On to Belfast:

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Belfast experienced the strongest economic growth of any UK city in 2015, official figures suggest.

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strongest economic growth of any UK city in 2015

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2015

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I don't think you can use that to back Brexit considering a significant amount of their trade is with Ireland (and as much as you like to believe, a trade deal is not guaranteed). Also the fact it was 2015, before a referendum was even announced.

And in the case of the FTSE 100, it probably still has a lower actual total market cap.
Taking figures from: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/bu...-a7355851.html
It was £1.7 trillion prior to the referendum, which would be about $2.53 trillion USD.

On the day the article was written, it was £1.9 trillion, which is ~£200 billion in the space of ~4 months. So even if it went up by a total of £400 billion now to £2.1 trillion, this still only about matches what it was before the referendum, and that's me being generous in your favour. It also seems to be in question what will happen when interest rates are raised.

On the topic of stock exchanges, look at how these weak countries are doing:
http://i.imgur.com/nccTwlk.png

The article says 17 months, 17 months is more than a year which is 12 months long. So what's your point?

Fact of the matter is, you who posted all scare stories prior to the referendum are looking very silly now. We had you posting doom stories on the economy, we had @scottish; and others posting that Scotland would leave lmao. All complete and utter hyperbole as the economic figures keep showing. Britain is doing better than the other advanced economies and it annoys you because it doesn't fit the faulty narrative.

You can play with figures and dispute all you want, but 'facts are the facts' as you lot used to say when posting the scare stories which were faulty *predictions*. The figures from *actual economic data* show the total opposite to what you claimed.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017...t-predictions/

Bank of England admits its forecasts on Brexit were wrong

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Originally Posted by Telegraph

The Bank of England has admitted its dire warnings of a downturn in the wake of the Brexit vote were a “Michael Fish” moment and said that the economics profession was now in “crisis”.

Andy Haldane, the Bank of England’s chief economist, said there was a “disconnect” between political warnings about Brexit and the “remarkably placid” state of the markets, adding that the worst predictions may turn out to be “just scare stories”.

He made the concession as new figures suggested Britain was the fastest growing of all advanced economies last year after the services sector defied gloomy forecasts to hit a 17-month high.

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-38560646

Nicola Sturgeon rules out a referendum in 2017

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Originally Posted by BBC News

Scotland's first minister has explicitly ruled out holding a second referendum on independence this year.

The Scottish government has already drafted legislation for a referendum after Nicola Sturgeon said another ballot was highly likely in the wake of the UK voting to leave the EU.

But Ms Sturgeon told STV News that any referendum would not been held in 2017.

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Wrong on the economy. Wrong on the result. Wrong predicting recession. Wrong on Scotland. Wrong on the Single Market.

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Originally Posted by -:Undertaker:-

The article says 17 months, 17 months is more than a year which is 12 months long. So what's your point?

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A quarter of a year is 3 months. Regardless, it doesn't exactly explain what business activity even means.

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Fact of the matter is, you who posted all scare stories prior to the referendum are looking very silly now.

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You look silly because I never posted such things. I only chose to vote remain at the booth.

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All complete and utter hyperbole as the economic figures keep showing. Britain is doing better than the other advanced economies and it annoys you because it doesn't fit the faulty narrative.

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I only mentioned Brexit for Belfast as you also did. It's a fact our growth has been shite compared to other countries and it's nothing to do with our membership of the EU, but rather poor governing.

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You can play with figures and dispute all you want, but 'facts are the facts' as you lot used to say when posting the scare stories which were faulty *predictions*. The figures from *actual economic data* show the total opposite to what you claimed.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017...t-predictions/

Bank of England admits its forecasts on Brexit were wrong

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I'm sick of these experts with their economic data.

Except I also posted economic data so why are you just ignoring that?
You've honestly completely misread everything I've put.

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-38560646

Nicola Sturgeon rules out a referendum in 2017


Wrong on the economy. Wrong on the result. Wrong predicting recession. Wrong on Scotland. Wrong on the Single Market.

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Cool. Let's not forget the original one took 2 years.

Pound crashed, rising prices...

Sure the common man is thrilled, thus far. They'll really notice a bank (or not) investing in the UK, I'm sure.

IMF Revises Growth Forecast Upwards Again #DespiteBrexit https://t.co/FABJfGLl4k pic.twitter.com/puXjbJF2pJ

— Global Guido (@GloboGuido) January 16, 2017

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Originally Posted by Guido

The IMF has significantly upgraded its growth forecast for Britain in 2017: it now expects the UK economy to grow by 1.5% this year, up by 0.4 percentage points on its October estimate. It has recorded 2016 growth at 2%, up from 1.8%. The IMF said growth:

“Held up better than expected in the aftermath of the Brexit vote.”

Remember, Christine Lagarde said the aftermath of a Leave vote would be “pretty bad to very, very bad".

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Lmao.

The folk down the local boozer called it better than these clever idiots.

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Originally Posted by AgnesIO

Pound crashed, rising prices...

Sure the common man is thrilled, thus far. They'll really notice a bank (or not) investing in the UK, I'm sure.

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Well, actually yeah. In past few months the apartments in Liverpool have all been selling out as foreign investors have been snapping them up due to cheap Sterling. That in turn has meant more apartments being submitted for planning, meaning more building work (construction jobs), more places for people to live, more people back in the city centre, good for business etc.

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Originally Posted by -:Undertaker:-

Well, actually yeah. In past few months the apartments in Liverpool have all been selling out as foreign investors have been snapping them up due to cheap Sterling. That in turn has meant more apartments being submitted for planning, meaning more building work (construction jobs), more places for people to live, more people back in the city centre, good for business etc.

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That's not how it works at all. And perhaps if foreign investors stopped buying the bloody houses, then the people could just live there instead and cut out this unnecessary middle step.

The cheaper Sterling is ultimately going to be crap for most people for the foreseeable future.

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Originally Posted by dbgtz

That's not how it works at all. And perhaps if foreign investors stopped buying the bloody houses, then the people could just live there instead and cut out this unnecessary middle step.

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It is how it works. I just described it and you didn't rebutt. A currency devaluation always attracts foreign investment into a country as it is always the best time to invest: you get more bang for your buck. It's like when Britain was thrown out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) in the 1990s a boom followed. It's also why the Eurozone has been a disaster because Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal are unable to devalue their currencies when that is exactly what they need.

As for foreign investment, without foreign investment these apartments would not be getting built.

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Originally Posted by dbgtz

The cheaper Sterling is ultimately going to be crap for most people for the foreseeable future.

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UK inflation is at a mere 1.2%

We'll see if 2017 forecast right before worrying about 2018 forecast. Sorry things so far have turned much better than you hoped. https://t.co/TsxKE8l9bz

— Andrew Neil (@afneil) January 16, 2017

Why not just face it that your sides predictions were totally wrong?

It's not that you *believe* it's been bad because you know it hasn't been. It's that you *want* it to turn bad to be vindicated. The fact the polling on Brexit shows absolutely nil regret since the referendum is indicative of this, there has been next to no effect.

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Originally Posted by -:Undertaker:-

It is how it works. I just described it and you didn't rebutt. A currency devaluation always attracts foreign investment into a country as it is always the best time to invest: you get more bang for your buck. It's like when Britain was thrown out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) in the 1990s a boom followed. It's also why the Eurozone has been a disaster because Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal are unable to devalue their currencies when that is exactly what they need.

As for foreign investment, without foreign investment these apartments would not be getting built.

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Sorry, when I meant "that's not how it works" I was referring to the houses being built. If it worked like that we'd be able to maintain the "recommended minimum" or whatever they call it. There's a shortage of workforce and land (though, part of the land shortage seems to be reluctance to build up).

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UK inflation is at a mere 1.2%

We'll see if 2017 forecast right before worrying about 2018 forecast. Sorry things so far have turned much better than you hoped. https://t.co/TsxKE8l9bz

— Andrew Neil (@afneil) January 16, 2017

Why not just face it that your sides predictions were totally wrong?

It's not that you *believe* it's been bad because you know it hasn't been. It's that you *want* it to turn bad to be vindicated. The fact the polling on Brexit shows absolutely nil regret since the referendum is indicative of this, there has been next to no effect.

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Before I respond properly, I want to ask if you realise that you constantly pick and choose which figures are "right" depending on when it suits you? Like you seem OK to accept this inflation figure without any actual investigation into it.

OK, I should start this by saying some inflation is not a bad thing and is actually necessary, and the current figures are still below the BoE target of 2%. But let's get into it.

First of all, let's start by saying that it does take time for prices to change, most likely down to contracts. It will not be an instant transition but I will get you some examples.
Let's take the recent Nintendo Switch. For the US, it is going for $300. For the UK, £280, or £233.33 without tax. Putting that into USD that is $281.04. This time last year that $281 would've been less than £189. I will admit it's worthless to assume a direct conversion as there's a lot to factor in, so to compare, the WiiU which launched in 2012 came with two models priced at $300/$350 in the US and £250/£300 in the UK. But who needs luxuries, right? It's not like food prices are going up or anything.

But you're right, it's not particularly high who really needs to worry?
Except there is a trend it is increasing. Yes, it's by no means high but there's a reason stuff like this gets predicted well in advance.
http://i.imgur.com/E2Omzss.png

But again, saying "your side" despite the numerous times I have said I literally changed my mind at the voting booth. I only seek to present that's it's not as clearly one side as you like to believe because you seem to be too dense to look up and accept things which contradict your own view.
I'd also like to add we haven't even really begun the process of leaving yet. Nobody even knows what is happening until May's speech.

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Originally Posted by -:Undertaker:-

IMF Revises Growth Forecast Upwards Again #DespiteBrexit https://t.co/FABJfGLl4k pic.twitter.com/puXjbJF2pJ

— Global Guido (@GloboGuido) January 16, 2017

Lmao.

The folk down the local boozer called it better than these clever idiots.



Well, actually yeah. In past few months the apartments in Liverpool have all been selling out as foreign investors have been snapping them up due to cheap Sterling. That in turn has meant more apartments being submitted for planning, meaning more building work (construction jobs), more places for people to live, more people back in the city centre, good for business etc.

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Nice to know you prefer a country where people can't afford to buy a house near where they work.