With the confused state of this current economic cycle, gloomy retail spending figures, redundancies, repossessions of homes and personal bankruptcy up, there are still conflicting messages.

Historically interest rates are low at 5% per cent and inflation is still low at 2.5% per cent, and employment is still high.

What has caused this mess is personal greed and indiscipline. Banks gave out money to any moron wanting it, we took it and now we are scratching are rear ends and thinking how to repay the debts. The banks secured loans and mortgages on assets that now are not worth the value they estimated them to be, to people who should have never been given such large loans.

The government has shown itself to be utterless clueless, dithering over Northern Rock, slow to appreciate the scale of the economic gloom we are in, and a Chancellor who is not in charge of his own destiny.

London is the engine that drives this nation's economy if we begin to slow, which is very likely then our compatriots in Manchester, Liverpool and beyond will be in very deep trouble.