Bill Gleeson: There may be an optimistic note for the year ahead
IS IT appropriate to offer the traditional wish of a “prosperous New Year” in the thick of a recession that could cost the people you are greeting their livelihoods?
Maybe it would sound a little less hollow if you also provide some economic analysis to substantiate the optimistic note.
Locally, 2008 was remarkable for being Liverpool's year as European Capital of Culture, the opening of the Echo Arena and BT Convention Centre, and Grosvenor's £1bn Liverpool One shopping development.
The extra tourists visiting the city, the new convention trade and the jobs created by the new shops have made a big difference.
Sadly, though, the City Fathers could do nothing to predict the credit crunch. All their hard work put into planning a fantastic 2008 can't save the region from the downturn. It’s going to hurt. If you have any doubts about that, just read Stephen Roberts’s comments about the hotel trade on the front page of today's LDP Business.
Internationally, the problems are also huge. The economic slowdown is going to throw millions out of work.
But there are some glimmers of hope. America has elected its first intelligent President in a long time, a man who can provide personal leadership and who cares passionately about ordinary people whether they live in Illinois or East Africa.
As a result, Barack Obama, who takes over at the White House next month, will engage with the world and want to see its economy thrive more than most previous American Presidents ever did.
Another glimmer of hope is that, once the world's banks start lending to each other again, which might be within the next few months, economic growth could pick up surprisingly rapidly, though the fear of unemployment will also have to be dispelled, and that is likely to take much longer.
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