More evidence that imposing fiscal austerity while the private sector is deleveraging will aggravate rather than cure the problem. From WSJ.com:
The [UK] economy shrank 0.7% between April and June, dragged down by weakness in the construction industry, according to official data released Wednesday.
An extra day’s holiday in June for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee had a significant negative impact on the economy, the data showed, but an official said it was too early to quantify the full effect at this stage. Unusually wet weather during the quarter may also have played a role.
It is the third quarter in a row that gross domestic product has shrunk and the largest quarterly contraction since early 2009.