Things must be looking up. UK business activity is at its zippiest since last May, the FTSE 100 has hit a new high and, with a fresh spring in its step, here’s a member of the index, JD Sports, wolfing down a US rival for £878 million cash.
True, none of this may be the cue for unbridled optimism about the UK economy or London stock market. The latest PMI figures are just one month’s data. The record blue-chip index is anything but once translated into dollar or euro terms, or inflation adjusted, or by value of stocks traded, as some debunking by the FT Alphaville blog showed. And the JD Sports boss, Régis Schultz, is as British as camembert cheese.
Yet, maybe the UK
