Following a poll on UK consumer confidence, we are told that the "index of sentiment" jumped the most in 18 years in May "as Britons became less pessimistic about their finances and the economy".

The index saw a ten point increase from April to minus 21, the highest in five months, and the biggest increase since May 1993. It is considered that the "gain in confidence" may be partly due to a "feel-good factor" following two consecutive four-day holiday weekends and the royal wedding at the end of April.

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What utter garbage, we certainly didn't get the feel good factor from the extra day for the wedding, just the oppoisite, my husband was short of a days pay.

Who do they ask on these polls, those who can't speak English and don't understand the questions, or those in Islington & Notting Hill who have more money than sense.

Curmudgeonly!

You and me both Richard.

Anyway who the kucf makes-up [ha] these crappy figures?

Dave and Georgie boy, because if this is true, there is more work to do than even we thought!

Or, are Joe and Joanna public more boneheaded than we thought?

To at least a certain extent, economies run on sentiment.

Perhaps it's all these new people that have arrived that are pushing it up.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ds-newsxml

"Immigration rose to near-record levels last year, official figures have revealed.

Net migration increased at the fastest rate since Labour opened Britain’s doors to workers from the Eastern European states that joined the EU seven years ago.

In the year up to September 2010, the figure for net migration – the difference between immigration and emigration – was 242,000, the third highest on record."

I'm glad Dave got tough on immigration, I'd hate to think how many we'd have if he gone soft.

They obviously did this survey before the important news about cheryl cole appeared, the thought of her not being on the x-factor is bound to have an effect on confidence.

Come on, chaps...think positive

Agreed, but the impact of an improvement in confidence will be a surge in sales of imports of manufactured goods, so we'll soon be back in the sh*t again!

I wonder when sentiment was last as high as +21. Surely it would have been something momentous like Tony Blair's landslide victory in 1997 or Buck's Fizz winning Eurovision?

Isn't it obvious? It was the recent visit of president Obama. Don't you remember his speech?

I bless you, and keep you;
I make My face shine on you,
And be gracious to you;
I lift up My countenance upon you,
And give you peace."

Hope has come to the United Kingdom.

The main value to me is that it confirms my belief that the vast majority of people in this cuntry have absolutely no idea quite how far up the creek we all are, and how little aware they are of the paddle-less state of our politicos. On the other hand, since my beliefs have essentially zero consequence in correcting such ignorance, this is rather small compensation, even to myself!

You have more power than you think ...

http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2011/0 ... iance.html