A few points about the British growth slowdown

1. The BBC reports: “The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the fall in output was largely due to a drop in mining and quarrying, after maintenance delays at the UK’s largest North Sea oil field.”

2. According to an FT account, output in the construction sector has fallen eleven percent over the last year.

3. Taking away those two problems, growth was about 0.7 percent, and 1.4 percent in the service sectors.  The service sectors represent about four-fifths of the economy.

4. Their relative shares in export markets are generally falling.

You can debate how much those numbers fit the pattern of an AD shortfall (I don’t see it myself, though there is room to make some of a case on the construction side), but what is remarkable is how many people don’t even want to raise these issues.