This afternoon research group NIESR reports that the UK economy grew by 0.8% in the last quarter, all but bringing an end to the double dip recession:

“Our monthly estimates of GDP suggest that output grew by 0.8 per cent in the three months ending in September after growth of 0.1 per cent in the three months ending in August 2012. This is the most robust rate of growth since the three months to July 2010.”

The overall growth forecast is remains poor. Still, handy timing for Dave…

Poll-leading Mitt Romney’s hopes of defeating Barack Obama were written off by many when he attacked the 47% of Americans who don’t pay federal income tax last month. At the time Guido’s own number-crunching revealed that 46% of the British electorate are dependent on the state:

Now a report by the Centre for Policy Studies has found that 53.4% of UK households receive more in benefits than they pay in taxes. That figure has gone up by almost 10% since 2000:

This is why the IDS-Osborne battle is so significant…

Mitt Romney’s highlighting of the 47% of Americans who don’t pay federal income tax has got Guido thinking this morning. Having crunched the numbers it seems that a far greater number of Britons chip in to the Treasury than our stateside counterparts. Of the 34.1 million people of working age in the UK some 30.1 million pay income tax, leaving just 12% not contributing. Using Romney’s less reasonable registered voter method – including other groups such as the elderly – that figure rises to 35%.

Over at the Speccie Fraser Nelson has some interesting research of his own, noting the large number of public sector “dependents” who vote Tory. Fraser goes on: “If you add Brits who derive most of their income from government jobs or welfare, you’d get to about half of registered voters”.

46.1 million registered voters, a public sector workforce of 5.9 million, 5.8 million on working age benefits and 9.5 million recipients of old-age pensions – that’s approximately 46% of voters who could be described as dependent on the government. They might not all vote Labour but that’s still quite a figure…

If George Osborne were not putting his feet up he would surely be gloating about today’s latest unemployment figures, which show that the jobless rate has dipped to the lowest level since July 2011. Unemployment fell to 8% last month while over 130,000 new jobs were created. But Chancellor Zero should not be feeling too pleased with himself.

Stats released by the EU last night show that Britain’s economy is performing worse even than crisis-hit Spain. The UK shrank by 0.7% in the last quarter, more than Spain’s 0.4% decrease and outdone only by bankrupt Greece, Portugal and Cyprus. Meanwhile London’s businesses have reported an unexpected decline in sales during the Olympics, with the two-week tourists failing to make up for all those who deserted the capital. Recovery will be a marathon, not a sprint…

It might be silly season but this week still saw an impressive 123,957 visitors visiting 308,205 times viewing 528,432 pages. The top stories in order of popularity were:

• Piers Morgan Twitter Troll Takedown
• Wandsworth Council Suspend Tory Fraud Suspect
• Mensch Quits
• Piers Morgan Slams Fake Photo (No, Really)
• Twitter Bitch Fight of the Week: Hain v Guido
• Hollande Left With Oeuf On Face
• The Mensch Letters
• Bankrupt Bloggers Resort To Slave Labour
• Chart: LibDem Promises Spin Unravels

This week a healthy for silly season 88,114 visitors visited 270,346 times viewing 472,473 pages.

The top stories in order of popularity were:

• Boris Stuck On Zip Wire
• Twitter Spoofer Launches Legal Fight
• It’s Boris Mania!
• Wandsworth Tories Demand Guido “Desist”
• Victory For Spoof Tweeter
• Video: Jeremy Hunt Hits Woman With Bell End
• He Who Pays the IPPR Calls the Tune

This week 100,816 visitors visited 294,645 times viewing 517,466 pages. The top stories in order of popularity were:

• Breaking Video: Jeremy Hunt Hits Woman With Bell End
• Media Boss Launches Witch Hunt Over Twitter Parody 
• Picture: Compare and Contrast PMs’ Body Language
• “Philandering” Politician’s Love Child Awarded £15,000
• Naming and Shaming the “Morally Repugnant” David Gauke
• David Gauke’s Wife is Tax Avoidance Lawyer
• Twitter to Release Spoof Account Details
• Justine Greening’s Agent in Addison Lee Fraud Mess

You’re either in front of Guido, or behind…

This week 84,152 visitors visited 277,342 times viewing 481,704 pages. The top stories in order of popularity were:

• The Two Faces of Polly Toynbee
• Farage Confirms Guido Eastleigh Rumours
• Ken Forced to Pay Damages and Apologise to Gilligan
• Eddie Mair’s Newsnight Heebie-Jeebies
• Guardian Comes Out for Cuts
• Michael White Owes Guido An Apology
• Exclusive: Violent Rioter ‘Voids’ Square Mile Election 

You’re either in front of Guido, or behind…

Carl Roper is sanctioned by the TUC to spin for Pilgrims – taxpayer-funded trade union officials. The unions are fully aware of the damage that losing this state subsidy would do to their coffers and their ability to buy influence, so are fighting the Cabinet Office consultation launched last week very hard. So hard that they are just making things up:

Cab Office consult highlights TPA dodgy figures on 'cost' of reps time off. TPA claimed £80m. Real figure £36m—
Carl Roper (@RoperCarl) July 17, 2012

Either Carl is an idiot, or he is being deliberately misleading. The Cabinet Office £36m figure is only for taxpayer funded union activity in Whitehall, whereas the TPA figure he mentions is in regard to union activity funded by the state right across the country. Channel Four’s FactCheck – so quickly turned to by the TUC when it agrees with them – believe the TPA figure to be an underestimate. It’s based on FOI data released by councils. Many refused. Carl ran away when Guido picked him up on his dodgy spinning.

No doubt he will happily set the record straight when he sees the error of his ways…