So we are in a recession. Hardly a surprise. What was a surprise was the extent to which the economy shrank over the last 3 months  – 1.5% – the worst since 1980. The pound has fallen to a new low against the dollar, and the FTSE is back below 3,000. Gordon Brown is exuding gloom, and nothing he is doing seems to be having the required impact, since he has to keep repeating the exercise on a much larger scale every few months. What good did those extra billions do back in the autumn that were meant to stabilise the banking sector. Labour forecast the economy would shrink by 1.25% in 2009 – it has already shrunk 1.5% in the last quarter.

It is natural to feel anxious in these times. It would be glib to suggest that there are any easy answers. But we must beware the Government’s preference for doing just about anything in order to be seen to be doing something. Gordon Brown seems to have reverted to taking actions based on short-term political considerations rather than long-term economic ones – as he should do. His mantra that Britain is in as bad a whole as the rest of the world is no longer true – we have been left far more exposed because of his actions, and he knows it.

This is a depressing post. But these are depressing times for all of us.