The figures released by the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) this morning had Sterling soaring skywards – as I write it is about to clip 1.20 to the euro – and I do not doubt that these data were the main factor in stopping the FTSE’s early slide this morning. Much of that was in expectation of more bad or perhaps neutral news….so it’s up over 5300 now (11.50 gmt).

However, having now had time to absorb the as yet very limited numbers, I do not think this Q2 summary has anything in it to cheer about. It could’ve been a lot worse – but the anomalies and imblances remain, and the trend is far from encouraging. No gdp figures are worth a dime these days unless they can show some contribution to Britain’s trading account. These don’t do that.

Business services, finance and construction were the main gainers. Of these, the first to get chopped in tight times is business services, finance is more of the same fluffy stuff, and you can’t export houses. Construction has done well because a cold spring has been followed by a warm, clear summer.

Manufacturing increased by a healthy 1.6%, but we don’t know as yet what was being made, and how much was for export. Mining by contrast was down, and energy badly down – all of which point to a further increase in import costs, as the UK is already a net importer of both.

Hotels, restaurants and retail all helped reverse the Q1 drop: increases in taxation will put a stop to that next time in Q3: and again, this sort of froth has a slight positive effect via tourism, but overall is a cost, not an export gain.

The suspicious data area for me (and I have the same doubts about French data) is this mysterious sector called ‘Government and Other’: partly because it’s meaningless, and partly because it has seen a large increase versus the previous quarter.

Much as many of us would like to, we can’t export the Government or its incompetent civil servants; so whatever these figures mean, it seems highly unlikely they’re contributing to the trade balance. It’s far more probable that, on the contrary, they represent more public sector scorched earth as practised in the Last Days of the Brownshirts.