JON REES: George Osborne must be disappointed this festive season - British 経済成長 is lower than thought?

• e-mail

I do hope Father Christmas brought you all you 手配中の，お尋ね者, but I wonder whether the occupant of Number 11 負かす／撃墜するing Street is feeling a bit left out. George Osborne must be disappointed this festive season: Britain is no longer 'the fastest growing of any major 前進するd economy', as he （人命などを）奪う，主張するd.?

Instead, growth has just been 改訂するd downwards from 3 per cent to 2.6 per cent. At the same time, the US 発表するd it was 登録（する）ing 5 per cent growth, its fastest for a １０年間.

We are still 長，率いるing in the 権利 direction, but the Office for 国家の 統計（学） has also 明らかにする／漏らすd the income of typical 'middle' 世帯s in Britain has fallen to £23,300, its lowest level since 2003.?

Growth subtraction: The 最新の GDP 改正s 示唆する the UK economy grew いっそう少なく than 以前 thought

This 確認するd what an awful lot of people instinctively feel: the big picture may be brighter, b ut for most of us it doesn’t look like it.

And that （一定の）期間s trouble for Osborne. If he can’t change that with just a few months to go before the 選挙 his time at Number 11 is 製図／抽選 to a の近くに.

But there are some glad tidings coming his way, floating on a 黒人／ボイコット tide. The price of oil has 急落するd: a バーレル／樽 of Brent 天然のまま is just $60 now compared with $115 in June.

There are losers in this: in Britain, おもに the smaller oil companies. どこかよそで, Vladimir Putin’s Russia, where energy accounts for two-thirds of 輸出（する）s, is in a perilous position.

But a lower oil price is terrific news for the 残り／休憩（する） of us because oil still 力／強力にするs the world’s economy, albeit to the chagrin of 環境保護主義者s. It's happening because there's a glut ? 中国 is not using as much, while the US has discovered so much oil through fracking ? squeezing oil out of 激しく揺する through high-圧力 hydraulics ? that it is almost self-十分な.

So it looks like it could be the end of the age of Opec, the cartel of おもに Middle Eastern 明言する／公表するs which from the 1970s controlled the price of oil through 限界ing 生産／産物. That's a good thing ? the world would be a lot better off now if it had never 存在するd.

What a terrible Christmas it’s been for the 近づく-3,000 staff of City Link, the 小包 配達／演説／出産 会社／堅い that went into 行政 on Christmas Day. Its 私的な 公正，普通株主権 owner Better 資本／首都, started by Jon Moulton, was 設立するd with the 意向 of doing better than that, hence the ‘Better’ in the 指名する. Instead, like Texas 太平洋の, which 解雇（する）d staff at Heathrow by loudhailer, it has ended up behaving 不正に.

It is perhaps 価値（がある） 公式文書，認めるing that it sank £40 million into City Link, which it bought for £1 from Rentokil, which 手配中の，お尋ね者 発射 of it. There’s no 疑問 Moulton wouldn’t have wished for it to end like this.

A happy New Year to you all.

?