CONTRAST the generations of hard work that went into building up the Reeves furniture store, in Croydon, with the destruction of this week’s riots.

Founded in 1867, Reeves has been owned by the same family for five generations.

Yet 140 years of enterprise was burned to the ground in one hour on Monday night by a mindless act of violence.

I like to think of myself as an optimist: a glass half full, or even three quarters full, sort of man.

This is particularly true when it comes to British society and economy. Yet, on the basis of this week’s news about riots and financial market turmoil, you would be forgiven for thinking that everything was about to implode. Nevertheless, Britain is a resilient place. I would be hopeful the riots will be an old story by this time next week and most of our businesses, big and small, will keep going through thick and thin..

As for the international markets, there were already signs yesterday afternoon that they are making a comeback, though it could go either way over the next few days and weeks. The word of the day is “volatile”.

Unlike the sportswear-thieving yobs, who have been plaguing our cities over the last few nights, market volatility is going to take longer to be resolved, but it’s a one-way bet that, within four years from now, we will have forgotten all about the credit crunch, banking crisis, spending cuts and slow recovery.

A leaner and fitter private sector will be forging ahead in international market places.

Agreed, this is no immediate comfort for people who have lost their job or seen their businesses close, but it is inevitable, as night follows day, that strong growth will return to the UK in the longer term.

Much of the coverage about the disorder in Liverpool, London and elsewhere has focused on the young age of the rioters. In Liverpool, it seems most of those involved were of secondary school age. If so, it makes comparisons with the 1981 riots irrelevant. The Toxteth riots were about racism and dispossession, whereas what we have now appears to be recreational violence.

That’s not to say that we don’t still have huge social issues to deal with in this city and throughout the country. If all of our people are to feel engaged and enfranchised in our society, they must have access to good jobs and affordable homes. I doubt many of those rioting on Monday night had big mortgages to pay.

IT SEEMS hard to believe that Royal Liver Assurance is a thing of the past, but about that there can be no doubt.

In the early 20th century, the mutual built the iconic waterfront building that bears its name and which housed many hundreds of head office staff. A century on, plans have been announced to completely vacate the premises. The 220 staff who work there will either be made redundant or relocated to Cheshire. The £3bn of funds it managed has been transferred to Royal London.

Those same funds own the Royal Liver building. The funds will benefit from the receipt of rents from the businesses that will now let the vacated office space. I would anticipate that, in the fullness of time, the Royal London fund managers will exhibit a complete lack of sentiment by selling the iconic building. According to the Royal Liver’s accounts from a few years ago, the Pier Head office block was worth circa £50m. That sort of money will be very tempting, particularly if equity markets continue to perform poorly.