On the English "recovery"

• The basic fact of UK economic performance since the financial crisis is that it has been terrible — in fact, as the NIESR documents, GDP performance has been substantially worse than during the Great Depression:

• The only reason Britain isn’t suffering terrifyingly high unemployment is the fact that, for reasons not clear, productivity has collapsed, so that the shrunken economy is still employing a lot of people.
• Cameron/Osborne imposed a lot of austerity in their first two years, then let up substantially. In effect, they spent a while banging Britain’s head against the wall, and are now claiming vindication, because it feels good when they stop.

From P Krugman : The Three Stooges Do Westminster
Osborne and the Stooges, NYT, P Krugman