Gordon Brown faced further embarrassment today over Britain’s recovery after it emerged that Ireland's beleaguered economy has emerged from recession.
Irish economic output rose by 0.3 per cent between July and September compared to the second quarter, official figures showed today, leaving the UK as one of the few Western economies still mired in an economic downturn.
The technical definition of a recession is two or more consecutive quarters of falling gross domestic product. A number of countries emerged from recession in the third quarter, including America, Japan, China, Germany and France.
However, Britain’s economy continued to shrink, falling by 0.3 per cent in the third quarter according to the most recent estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Perhaps Mr Murphy would like to address his apologies to the Irish President and the people of Ireland. A letter from Dover House maybe, or a television appearance?
If there are any Irish readers here, I’d like to apologise on behalf of Scotland. On the several occasions when Murphy came out with his ill-thought-out, rude, rubbish about how backward looking and sad Ireland was, I cringed. Please believe me, we’re not all like him.
The major reason is the Irish pre budget report contained cuts and measures neccesary to get the economy moving, that included cuts in public services as well as various governmental bodies including a wage cut by government ministers. It gave the Irish economy a sense of confidence that just isn't felt in the UK economy.
ReplyDeleteQM: Fair enough.
ReplyDeleteI know tht the budget cuts in Ireland are painful, but they will come here, of that I have no doubt. Perhaps we will suffer as much, if not more, than the Irish.
It seems to me that Mr Murphy's statement on our near neighours was not only rude and insensitive. It was also innacurate.
I wish he was decent enough to make a public apology.
and if Ireland had not broken free of england where would they be. !!!!!!!!! just like Scotland in hock for at least the next three generations, we realy must get the hell away from these people
ReplyDeleteWell Anon, to be fair, it's not the people, it's the regime (unfortunately overseen for the moment by one of ours).
ReplyDeleteTris,
ReplyDeleteI think you'll have a long wait for any kind of apology from Murphy who sometimes actually believes his own comments.
Fair play to the Irish as my grandparents used to say back in the old sod.
Aye Brownlie, I wasn't really expecting an apology. Murphy is like Brown. Pathetic.
ReplyDeleteI think that Ireland may be small enough a country to have that feeling of pulling together out of the mess they are in. I don't think that the Disunited Kingdom has a hope in hell of doing that.
Certainly I won't raise a finger. Everything in this country goes to the rich and most of the rich live in the South East of England, another world, never mind another country to mine.