My observations, for what they are worth, are that life is very much going on in the UK and France, despite all the negative press comment.

Changes in overall economic activity tend to be small in % terms and it's questionable whether you would be able to notice them with only casual observation.

This is not, however, the case for most companies that are massively leveraged. So an imperceptible 2% drop in sales (whether from overall activity or simply increased price pressure) can wipe out the profits of many businesses that have high fixed costs and debts.

I guess this is obvious really but worth remembering if not to fall into the trap of 'everything looks ok' when considering equity purchses.

lfc