It is also the case that the phenomenon of charitable "cold spots" in this country – the absence of voluntary sector activity in places of greatest need – runs far deeper.
"The main cause of the slowdown was a deterioration of service sector activity growth to the weakest since May of last year," he said.
The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing executives, said Wednesday that its index of service sector activity rose to 57.1 in December.
Other data yesterday showed an unexpectedly strong services sector, with the main index of service sector activity at 57.7% in June, up from 57.3% from the previous month.
The Institute for Supply Management said its index of service sector activity fell to 48.2 from 51.7 in May; the reading touched off more misgivings about the health of the economy.
The Institute for Supply Management, a private trade group, said on Tuesday that its index of service sector activity dropped to 57.3 last month, from 59.7 in February.
While a reading below 50 suggests economic activity is stagnating, the purchasing managers' data showed "a modest expansion of service sector activity broadly offset a continued reduction in manufacturing production," Markit said.
A closely watched gauge of private sector activity from the euro zone — the composite purchasing managers' index — fell to 49.2 points in September from 50.7 in August, according to Markit, a financial data provider.
Up to 40% of private sector activity is dependent on state investment, and many big new private sector advances have devolved from state-funded innovations such as, in the case of the iPad, communication technologies as well as GPS and touch-screen display.
I consider much of third sector activity to be social work, which is shown by the growing dependence of social services on this sector to provide essential services: for instance, adult social care's working relationships with Age UK and carer's centres.
