Here is the good news. We are 0.9 per cent better off than a year ago. That’s after allowing for inflation and tax. So that’s all right then; sure, the economy is slowing down but, even so, we still got better off. It is just that when you drill into the latest data from the Office for National Statistics, all of a sudden the picture looks a lot less rosy. And we are left questioning the data. Latest estimates out at the end of last week suggest the UK economy expanded by a mere 0.3 per cent in the first quarter – that is barely above recession pace. Furthermore, and this is a little odd, our savings ratio, which is already far too low, fell to just 1.1 per cent in the first quarter. The ONS have never recorded this ratio so low. Never, not since records began in 1959. And from beyond the Office for National Statistics, other data out at the end of last week paints an even more bleak picture. The UK’s Consumer Confidence index from GfK NOP fell to its lowest level since 1990, while Hometrack recorded the biggest monthly fall in house prices in June it has yet seen. Actually, though, it does kind of make sense. Recently the ONS also revealed data to suggest the High Street enjoyed its biggest ever year-on-year rise since 1986. This may seem odd, but put it all together, and the jigsaw pieces reveal a picture.