* In ten months, the UK has gone from being one of the rich
world's growth laggards to being one of its stronger
performers.
* Since February, economists have raised their forecasts for UK
growth next year more quickly than for any other big,
industrialised country.
* In the second and third quarters of this year, the UK economy
grew at above-trend rates and at the fastest pace in three
years.
* The European Commission predicts that the UK will be
Europe's fastest growing major economy for the next two
years.
* But before we get carried away we need to put this in
perspective.
* On average, economists forecast the UK will grow by 2.2% next
year. Before the financial crisis that would have been regarded as
a normal, if unremarkable, rate of growth. But after five years in
which the economy has shrunk, 2.2% growth seems like a pretty good
rate and would represent the strongest growth since 2007.
