OK, so I know it’s all the fault of the banks. The fact that this “new” Labour government have been bowing and scraping to the City since its first day in power like some sycophantic maitre de in a pseudo grand restaurant never likely to achieve a star status of any kind, is beside the point. Why did the thought to improve regulation never cross their minds? Why did our then Chancellor continue to take the credit for the booming economy without once questioning that perhaps house price rises of 25% per annum weren’t a very good thing and issuing mortgages to individuals who couldn’t possibly service them was a recipe for disaster?

I have worked at Douglas & Gordon for 22 years and been Managing Director for 15 of them. In that time, I have seen good and bad times and, let’s be honest, until 18 months ago we had experienced the best 3 years of all. Throughout that time, the fundamental challenge has been to gain market share. The last 6 months in particular have however presented a completely different challenge – survival.

In order to survive, we are faced with a host of new dilemmas. The kind of decisions that now have to be made are alien to us and inevitably mistakes will be made.