With some rather positive headlines about the economy such as risining stockmarket, house prices and services activity there are some that think the worst is behind us and we can look forward to a new brighter era.
Sorry to be depressing but that it is not my view.
There is still too much debt in the economy and for individulas, too much emphasis on high house prices, the Bank of England has just had to do more Quantatitive Easing and the redundancies have not worked their course.
I am a bear not a bull.
The other day I was coming back from holiday abroad and amazed by how few people were at the Eurotunnel terminal building in Calais. This is high season in Summer and deserted.
At a work level the number of redundancy consulations or redundancy centric mediations has never been so high for my firm.
My firm is not gleeful or complacent about this as next year there will be less redundancies so my firm will be focused on other areas. The recession is not necessarily great for employment lawyers, mediators and trainers.
Individuals seeking all forms of service are being more price sensitive than I have ever experienced.
I spoke to one leading employment lawyers and he reinforced my view. For some lucky people there may be work but you have to justify every last penny to the client. Again I do not think this is a bad thing, indeed it is welcome but merely a reflection of the times.
Business will never be the same again.