The unemployment rate remained at 5.2% in the three months to January, according to the Office for National Statistics. The highest in five years. Youth unemployment is at a twelve-year high, and pay growth has fallen to 3.8%. This must be that ‘stability’ Reeves keeps boasting about…
In Henry Mance’s piece today for the FT, lunching with Nigel Farage:
“Splendido!” Farage says, when the drinks arrive; I suppose it’s a step to European reconciliation. We clink glasses, and he lights the first of two back-to-back Benson & Hedges. A few minutes later, we’re back downstairs. “Are you drinking? Good.” He orders a glass of Sauvignon blanc for each of us — not a bottle, “because it’s Lent” — followed by a bottle of claret, to have with our meal. They say Farage drinks less than he used to. They say a lot of things.”