Day: February 11, 2019

    As is so often the case, the most interesting detail in today's economic growth numbers were to be found somewhere beneath the surface. For beneath the headline figures which showed that the economy grew by 0.2 per cent in the final quarter of last year were a couple of striking stories: first, that the economy is looking weaker than those big numbers suggest; second, that that weakness owes rather a lot to Brexit. But let's start with the big numbers. For on the surface the economy looks in alright, if not brilliant, shape. Growth of 0.2% was a bit weaker than expected, but it's stronger than the growth rates we've seen in Italy and are expected to see in Germany later this week. It's weaker than the growth we're seeing in the US or Canada, but at worst it leaves...

    British spies used the English Channel crossing migrant crisis as an elaborate cover to smuggle an Iranian spy into the UK, according to reports. It is claimed they spirited the Iranian nuclear technician across the Channel to safety in the UK aboard a dinghy filled with illegal Iranian immigrants. Reports suggest the 47-year-old, who allegedly holds information about Iran's nuclear programme, was smuggled into Kent by MI6 aboard the inflatable. The Sunday Express published the claims from a source who says the clandestine expedition took place on New Year's Eve in a joint operation involving MI6, the CIA and Israeli spy agency Mossad. The newspaper reported sources' details of the incredible trek, said to involve bundling the fleeing technician along a 3,000-mile...