OK…. so it’s official (whatever that is!), the crisis is over in France and Germany, or as the BBC put it:

“The French and German economies both grew by 0.3% between April and June, bringing to an end year-long recessions in Europe’s largest economies.”

No-one seemed more surprised, apparently than the French Minister for the Economy, Christine Laguarde, who seemed (if you will forgive the pun) to have been caught off-guard:

“The data is very surprising. After four negative quarters France is coming out of the red.”
Not sure I believe it, even if the statistics are scrupulously accurate: I don’t feel it…..

….. and folks around here still have their hatches battened down, some very literally…..