Better times ahead as recession ends

Sunday 13th September 2009, 12:01AM BST.

The green shoots of recovery are starting to emerge as the nation’s economy moves out of recession.

In this week’s podcast, Shropshire Star Business Editor Amy Bould says local companies will be taking advantage of opportunities that present themselves in coming months.

Shropshire Magazine Editor Neil Thomas previews the remarkable story of a county soldier who is overcoming the injuries he sustained in Afghanistan while host Andy Richardson looks back at the Ludlow Food Festival, which attracted 20,000 people to the town.


  1. 1
    big-beast

    “Housing revival is simply a ‘false dawn’ with prices set to fall again” trumpets todays Daily Mail. Obviously the Star knows better.

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  2. 2
    Tory Boy

    this is Labour properganda and EU lies, the economy is still ruined and its all browns fault, his tax and spend socialism has ruined us all, you will not get the economy going again til big dave gets in and we can cut taxes to stimulate the good times again

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  3. 3
    Tory Boy

    lies and statistics, the economy under labour is shot to pieces, bring on the conservative ambulance to save the day

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  4. 4
    Matt

    Trade Unionists do not think the recession is over.

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  5. 5
    spencer

    Poor attempt at trying to spread a little bit of a success story around. I feel a general election coming on…

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  6. 6
    ernest

    i run a local shop in Shrewsbury and i can say for sure there is massive drop in foot fall, luckily however the internet side of my business is doing really well still so making up for it, but i think it will be another year before we are really back to the boom years

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  7. 7
    simon hartfield

    most economists agree we already in recovery in the UK, one quarter of growth is there already i beleive

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  8. 8
    DevilsChair

    Spencer where do you think these fax-and-forget stories come from? More likely the local Chamber of Commerce than the govt. There’s been a number of kick-start stories that come from local industry – you can usually tell them because they’re never co-ordinated with countrywide stories of a similar type – those usually are government ones.

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  9. 9
    Stuart

    I think Amy Bould is living in cloud cuckoo land and as for simon hartfield saying “most economists” etc etc, I would merely say, name one economist worth his/her salt and who knows what they are talking about, saying what you attribute to them.
    And another thing, we are having it rough in this recession, Clown has borrowed so much money it will take us 30 odd years to get it all straight again, our “rough” times are going to continue for one hell of a long time whether we are in a “recognised” recession or not. Even one tenth of a percent growth for two consecutive months will strictly mean the end of the recession, do we honestly think that this will mean anything tangible to us.
    Clown has brought us to our knees and according to him, he is not going to make any “cuts” and we don’t have to pay our borrowings back. And we are supposed to beleive that.
    If the Star had national coverage, comments like that from Amy Bould would possibly make it the laughing stock.

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  10. 10
    Peter

    Once again, Stuart chooses to completely overlook the simple fact that this recession was caused by the greed of global capitalism, not by individual governments.

    I wouldn’t claim that the recession is over, but there are some positive signs that indicate we may have seen the worst of it. And it is the opinion of virtually all economic experts that the bail out of the banks, however galling given the disgusting greed of their senior execs, was a key factor in preventing the recession deepening and lengthening.

    Don’t forget that the Tories would have let more banks fail, and they can’t wait to start cutting back on public services, if they get the chance just as they did in the 80s.

    Remember the Cottage hospitals they closed? Remember the way they allowed school buildings to crumble?
    Remember the sale of all those council houses and public utility companies?

    And did they spend the money on the NHS, or on education? No, they spent it on high levels of unemplyment (‘a price worth paying’ according to Margaret Thatcher, you’ll recall) and on massive 40%+ cuts in taxes for the richest people in the country, whilst increasing indirect taxes for the poorest.

    We are now 12 months to the day since the collapse of Lehmann Brothers. Most economic commentators now believe that should not have been allowed to happen, since its collapse precipitated a ‘domino effect’ in terms of loss of confidence, which led to this recession – which after all wasn’t a recession led by loss of demand for goods, but instead one simply led by a loss of available credit.

    So how do we get the money back that has been borrowed to prop up the banks? Well, we don’t hastily put them back into the private sector for a start.

    They should be retained as nationalised concerns, with all of their inevitable profit going back into the public purse until the debt and more is paid back. I think ‘Bullingham George’ Osborne will be straining at the leash to give them back to his old mates in the City at the earliest opportunity…

    There are positive opportunities – even in a recession. Low interest rates mean that for businesses their costs are lower. A weaker pound gives firms greater export opportunities. Mortgage costs have become lower for those buying houses, and we have hopefully seen an end to the reckless lending by banks based upon greed rather than prudence – e.g. 150% mortgages etc.

    On the downside of course low interest rates mean that those with savings suffer, and there are many employers who are cynically exploiting the recession by seeking to cut pay, or reduce pension arrangements despite healthy profits – IBM being a case in point.

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  11. 11
    Stuart

    Sorry, correction, should be “consecutive quarters” not “months”.

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  12. 12
    Stuart

    Facts, not pie in the sky politicking by Peter.

    1. Our banks did what they did because Clown and Bliar set up the FSA and then stopped it from “regulating” the banks. Banks under this Labour lot were totally unregulated and still they remain so, nothing yet has been done to bring them into line. Bonuses are still being paid with Clown showing no inclination to stop them.
    2. About 2 hours before you penned this rubbish Peter, Clown finally admitted that he would have to cut, cut and more cut. Remember what he said, the Tories will cut and we will invest. Yes, he will invest right enough the same as he has done for 12 years and put us in debt up to our ears. Now it is payback time and he has finally had to admit to the TUC (they are not as daft as he thought the rest of us are) that a Labour Government will have to make CUTS, yes Peter a Labour Government making cuts.
    3. If you heard the mid-day news you would have heard that papers have been “leaked” from the Treasury saying that over 12 months ago, Clown was considering CUTS approaching 10% across the board in Public Services. He is an unmitigated liar and he has been found out. Remember him on his feet in the House sneering and accusing the Tories of 10% cuts when all the time he was considering doing the same. If the truth was known when he admitted having to make cuts to the TUC – he already knew that these papers had been leaked.
    3. Fact, More hospitals have been given the chop under Labour than what were ever closed under the Tories – what is the big fuss now going on about the one in Telford, what about the closure of the Kidderminster Hospital what about 13000 nurses made redundant in 2007. Want me to go on.
    4. Oh yes!, this Labour gang have built hospitals and schools. All under the PFI (PRIVATE Finance Initiative) which means hospitals, a good example being the one in Worcester having to pay rent at the rate of £40 million a year over 35 years, the cost of which is to come out of the clinical budget. Schools are under the same arrangment, the cost of the rent repayment coming out of their own educational budget. Any gang of fools can build all they like if they borrow the money to do it. In effect Hospitals and schools have been put into debt for the next 3 or 4 generations just to satisfy a political cabal who know no better.
    5. Now, sale of Council Houses, tell your dreary tale to those who were courageous and thrifty enough to buy them, they have now joined the property owning democracy rather than remaining in the socialist backwater that Labour would have us in. And as for the sale of them, pray tell me if you would, what have the Labourites done with them since they got into power. There is not one, as far as I know, council house now owned by a council.
    6. Fact, for the second time in the history of this country a Labour Government has had to “print” money, the first being Dennis Healey when he also had to borrow from the IMF to save us from bankruptcy. What a shocking state of affairs for any country to be in and, in this latest fiasco, all under master Clown.
    Tell the rest of your nonsense Peter to the small – and big businesses closing down. Low interest rates are not doing them any good, nothing has been done by Clown to make “our” banks lend money to them.
    How any man who purports to be sensible and intelligent cannot see through the present disaster and those responsible for it, say’s little for comments like “Bullingham” George.
    Had the Tories continued in power in 1997, we would not be in this almighty mess now. Clarke handed over to Clown, the best economy that any “handing over government” has ever done. Bliar promised to keep to Tory spending levels for two years, then he took the breaks off, borrowing went through the roof and we ended up where we are.
    In closing, what was that you said about Thatcher,pot calling kettle black methinks, again on todays news, unemployment at two and a half million under Labour and climbing rapidly.
    If you don’t wish to be shot down in flames Peter, don’t take off from the ground. Have a rethink for about six months before venturing forth with a load of garbage anain.

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  13. 13
    Peter

    Stuart, ‘Shot down in flames’? Hardly!

    Once again you trot out your hackneyed myth that somehow, the Tories would have been the party of regulation of the banks. As for the FSA, don’t forget that many of its regulatory powers were put in place to remedy the damage done by the mis-selling of endowments and pensions.

    You’ll also recall that many of the people hit hardest by that scandal were people on low incomes encouraged by Margaret Thatcher and her acolytes to leave SERPS, again to cut public spending, so she’d have more to give to the rich.

    Gordon Brown has said there will be a need to cut public spending once the recession is over. The Tories have indicated that they would cut and keep cutting in the middle of a recession – thus magnifying the effect – especially the loss of jobs and essential public services. It’s exactly what they did in the 80s – so no surprise there.

    They’ve also already indicated that two of their priorities if they got into government would be to cut corporation tax and inheritance tax – hardly likely to swell the pockets of the average worker eh?

    This ‘leak’ is just a piece of Tory mischief making – all goverments discuss all sorts of plans and scenarios – it doesn’t mean they implement them.

    ‘There is not one, as far as I know, council house now owned by a council.’ What an extraordinarily inaccurate statement! There are councils all over the UK who still own rented property – despite the best efforts of the Tories – you’re clearly out of touch.

    The ‘property-owning democracy’ was like the ‘share-owning democracy’ – not a democracy at all – only those with a certain level of capital were allowed to take part.

    Your assertion that more hospitals have closed under Labour is just nonsense. Don’t forget that waiting lists have diminished hugely, and thanks to investment many more minor procedures can be carried out on an outpatient basis or even at GP’s surgeries. There’s been a huge improvement in the NHS under Labour – I’ve seen this first hand, as someone who has suffered from a serious medical condition for 30 years or so.

    I didn’t suggest that eveything was fine for business in a recession – read the post properly next time. I simply pointed out that there are those who have benefited and those who have used the recession to take advantage of others.

    Your ‘facts’ simply don’t stand up to scrutiny. Your economic assertions are not supported by the vast majority of experts, be they from the left or the right of the spectrum.

    We may or may not yet be coming out of this recession caused by the failure of market capitalism and the collapse of the ‘service industry’ bubble (Clark’s ‘best economy’ was built on sand!) – but we’re doing the right things to get out of it – as are many other countries.

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  14. 14
    Stuart

    Peter, there is none so blind as those who do not wish to see, this sort of propaganda and claptrap, like on so many previous occasions is just that. Sensible, intelligent people now realise that the game is up with this lot you support. The one of “being built on sand” is a new one on me – and many others I would imagine. This Labour idiot now has the humiliation of having to claw back by savage cuts, everything that he has borrowed and “invested” in our worse off services for the past twelve years.
    I am genuinely and seriously concerned that the Tories appear to want to be elected into government because it is a poisoned chalice. They will get the blame for all the terrible fiasco that Labour – as on previous occasions has caused. The remedies are going to be so extreme and far reaching that serious social unrest and strife can easily occur. I would hate the Tories to be in power when that happens – all a consequence of Clowns reign and his almost criminal squandering of our economy.
    Labour to me is the party of Andy Cap’s and Fag Ash Lil’s, their policies whilst in Government particularly with regard to finance and the economy reflect this. Their wholly irresponsible borrowing is the policy of the “credit card” philosophy taken to the maximum then taking out another card to pay off the first. I would be ashamed to admit that I supported them. No more of the above please then I will also keep quiet.

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