Britain picks itself up – but how long can it stay on its feet?

The economy finally seems to be perking up. But only because it has had a hit of cheap money. Expect a comedown, says John Stepek.

Anyone reading the papers this week could be forgiven for feeling a strong sense of dj vu. A government on the verge of another humanitarian' war in the Middle East. Soaring oil prices. The return of Foxton's, London's most aggressive estate agency, to the stock market. It's like the mid-noughties never went away.

There's a similar feeling to the economy. The new Bank of England governor, Mark Carney, seems to have timed his entrance to perfection. What was seen as a stuttering recovery at the start of the year has given way to ever-strengthening economic data. Britain's second-quarter economic growth was recently revised up to 0.7%, from 0.6%, even stronger than anyone had expected. Growth improved in all areas, from investment spending to manufacturing to exports.

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John Stepek

John Stepek is a senior reporter at Bloomberg News and a former editor of MoneyWeek magazine. He graduated from Strathclyde University with a degree in psychology in 1996 and has always been fascinated by the gap between the way the market works in theory and the way it works in practice, and by how our deep-rooted instincts work against our best interests as investors.

He started out in journalism by writing articles about the specific business challenges facing family firms. In 2003, he took a job on the finance desk of Teletext, where he spent two years covering the markets and breaking financial news.

His work has been published in Families in Business, Shares magazine, Spear's Magazine, The Sunday Times, and The Spectator among others. He has also appeared as an expert commentator on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, BBC Radio Scotland, Newsnight, Daily Politics and Bloomberg. His first book, on contrarian investing, The Sceptical Investor, was released in March 2019. You can follow John on Twitter at @john_stepek.