Brand New World

The Office of Budget Responsibility has revised GDP growth upwards in its Economic and Fiscal Outlook for the year from 1.2% to 1.8%.

This positive revision should come as good news for the markets as it will hope to act as a vote of confidence in UK markets and its ability to trade its way out of having the largest ever peace-time deficit.

However, the forecast for 2011 has been revised down to 2.1% from 2.3% and in 2012 from 2.8% to 2.6%.

The Outlook also included a revision on the number of public sector jobs to go.

The forecast in June said 490,000 jobs would have to go: this figure has been slashed to just 330,000 jobs.

However, if the government goes ahead with plans to freeze total public spending in 2015/16, another 80,000 jobs will be cut that year.

The private sector should welcome the news of reduced job cuts as they would have been expected to soak up a lot of the public sector job losses when they hit.

The OBR expects "sluggish growth" in the medium term due to the increase in VAT and a package of spending cuts which totals £81bn.

While the upward revision should provide confidence for businesses, the lowering of forecasts for 2011 and 2012 serve as a reminder that recovery from this recession will be slower than in previous decades.

David Kern, chief economist at the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said that "while the new OBR forecast is more realistic than previous official forecasts by the Treasury, we believe it is still too optimistic".

He added: "The growth forecasts for 2011 onwards appear too ambitious, although we agree with the broad underlying assumption that Britain’s medium-term prospects will gradually improve over time.

"The government must focus on enabling the private sector to make 2011 a Year for Growth."

Madonna is exercising her business prowess by launching a chain of gyms, with the first port of call being Mexico.

The singer attended the opening of her Hard Candy Fitness Club in Mexico City to the delight of many screaming fans.

She said she chose to unveil her first gym there because she loves Mexico’s culture, food, art and architecture and wasn’t worried about its wave of drug-related violence.

"A lot of places I go are dangerous, like Tel Aviv or Rio (de Janeiro), but that never stops me from going there and putting on a show. I have good security," Madonna said surrounded by three burly bodyguards.

"I don’t worry about that."

The fitness centre offers the latest equipment and classes as well as a juice bar-cafe and luxury sauna and steam rooms.

At 52, Madonna’s own fitness regime is legendary and her physique has been both admired and criticised as excessive.

She taught a short dance lesson to a few Hard Candy members at the event.

The name is taken from her 11th studio album, which topped the charts around the world in 2008.

The UK’s largest domestic airline has announced its plans to float on the London Stock Exchange.

Flybe Group said its base public offer, which is expected to complete in December, will raise approximately £60m through new shares.

Half of net proceeds will be put towards expanding the airline’s fleet of aircraft.

Company head Jim French said: "We are delighted to bring Flybe to the market.

"A listing will assist Flybe in achieving the next stage in its exciting strategy for growth.

"We look forward to welcoming new shareholders on board for the next leg of our journey."

British Airways, which holds 15% of the regional airline, has said it intends to maintain its share.

Commenting on the announcement, BA chief Willie Walsh said: "We are delighted to participate in the Flybe IPO.

"Since our divestment of BA Connect to Flybe in March 2007, we have been impressed with the achievements of Flybe and its management team."

With codeshare arrangements with British Airways and Air France, Flybe had 7.2 million passengers across its 215 routes in the 12 months to March 2010.

The company’s directors claim it was one of only a few airlines to maintain profits through the economic downturn.

The Exeter-based carrier posted pre-tax profits of £6.8m in the year to March 31, down 47% on the previous year.

Unemployment in Germany fell again in November, official data showed Tuesday, but by less than expected as the strong recovery in Europe’s biggest economy slowed.

"The economic upswing in Germany has continued, even though the tempo weakened in the third quarter," the labour office said. "The recovery in the labour market tracks this."

The total number of people out of work dropped 14,000 to 2.9 million, with the jobless rate unchanged at 7.0 percent, continuing a recovery in recent months as Germany bounces back from its worst postwar slowdown.

Adjusted for seasonal effects, the number of people out of work fell by 9,000 from October.

Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast a bigger drop of 20,000, and in recent months the drop has been sharper, falling by 40,000 in August and by 17,000 in September.

In 2009, German output contracted almost five percent and Europe’s biggest economy has enjoyed a strong recovery this year thanks to strong demand for its exports.

In October, unemployment fell below the three-million level for the first time since late 2008 when the global financial system came close to collapse, sending the world economy into a tailspin.

Throughout the downturn, the government kept a lid on unemployment with a scheme helping firms to cut workers’ hours without laying people off.

But the recovery slowed somewhat in the third quarter, with gross domestic product (GDP) expanding by 0.7 percent after a jump of 2.3 percent in the second quarter of the year, the best performance for 20 years.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government expects growth of 3.4 percent this year, dipping to 1.8 percent in 2011.

Andreas Rees, economist at UniCredit, put a positive spin on the unemployment numbers, forecasting a rise in consumer spending, a weak point in the German economy.

"First, from a fundamental viewpoint, overall purchasing power is increasing. Second, from a psychological perspective, the feel-good factor is rising," he said.

"We expect private consumer spending to rise by two percent next year. It would be the strongest increase within the last 10 years."

The impact of the last recession on households has become clearer, with official figures highlighting the first fall in family spending for 10 years.

The data from the Office For National Statistics was released as a key indicator showed consumer confidence in personal finances has hit a 21-month low, ahead of the looming public sector spending cuts.

In other words, not since the height of the recession in February 2009 have Britons felt so bad about their wealth.

The household spending figures give a snapshot of what families were going through at that time and what they gave priority to in their budgets.

They show people spent less on clothing, transport and mortgages last year than in 2008.

The annual report found the average weekly household spend was £455, compared with £471 the previous year – the first drop within the last ten years.

Spending was highest on transport at £58.40 per week.

Of the £52.20 average weekly spend on food and non-alcoholic drink, almost three-quarters was purchased from large supermarket chains.

Giles Horsfield, ONS statistician and editor of the report, said: "Higher expenditure on some housing related costs such as rent, electricity and gas (was) offset by lower spending on mortgages."

The survey also found 25% of homes do not have a PC and that mobile phone ownership in Wales stands at just 49%.

More recent data from the ONS shows a recovery in household spending during 2010, with figures pointing to a rise of 7% in the year to the second quarter.

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Ellie Goulding has made a decision to stop consuming alcoholic drinks in the interests of her singing voice.The Ellie Goulding Lights song is set to fly straight to the top of the charts when it is released.

The Starry Eyed hitmaker claims she suffers from acid burn which was causing harm to her vocal cords, so has given up beer on the advice of expert Scott Kessler. " I have given up drinking on the information of a vocal doctor I saw latterly in America," explains Ellie. "He is suggested Madonna, Mariah Carey, Jon Bon Jovi – you name them he is sorted them out. No more acidic burn for me!" but it is not just drink that Goulding has to go without – she is also no longer permitted to gnaw gum, eat hot spiced foods or smoke. Ellie has additionally taken on a fitter life-style and enjoys regular running. She claims of her hobby : "the buzz of running is solely physical. I could tell you it is a non secular high but that will be a lie. I am an endorphin addict. "I adore the concept of my body being how it should be – in shape and active, able to deliver. The more that I train and see muscle definition, the more provoked I’m to bump myself harder." Ellie Goulding isn’t your typical pop princess. Check out that voice.

Not a vocoder in sight – that wonderful trademark bird-like vibrato is all her very own and she wastes no time in treating us to it by launching into ‘Under the Sheets’, one of the arm wavingly infective anthems that is in store tonight. And wave their arms is precisely what the group does.

Ellie wants to talk to her audience, and wants them to be as much part of her evening as she’s theirs. Her treacley-honey talking voice contrasts with her ethereal vocals, and she is relaxed making tiny talk with her crowd, who she thanks constantly for supporting her not only tonite but thru her career so far. She is obviously thankful, which though borders on the gushy it’s good to hear such a passionate confirmation of the link between fan and artist.