George Osborne has repeatedly promised to fix the roof while the sun is shining, and after official figures last week showed GDP growth picking up sharply in the second quarter, it seemed that the clouds have finally lifted. With the Bank of England’s policymakers due to meet on Thursday, the news that the slowdown in the first quarter was just a blip sent traders scrambling to price in an interest rate rise in the coming months. Official figures showed growth rebounded to 0.7% after the surprisingly weak 0.4% pace in the opening months of this year. There was also sunnier news on living standards: statisticians said ... (full story)