I would respectfully disagree. As someone who also works across a lot of industries I can tell you that retail has been through various forms of dead for the past two years, banking is recovering from the prior shocks but is pretending it's still ongoing to maximise profits (while in other parts of banking it still is ongoing - e.g. RBS) and the defence industry is about to go south (no falklands reference intended). Anything that sells to government is going to see a big reduction in revenues over the next few years, anything that sells B2C is going to face price pressures too. There's rising unemployment, rising costs despite the massaged inflation figures and credit interest rates are creeping up while saving interests remain locked at rates that destroy wealth.

I think your point about the ruling parties is fine, except there's a bigger problem. We booted the Labour party out, but there's now no opposition. So when the two parties in power apportion blame, there's a very real risk that labour may come back in. If they do I would hope that they are able to put ideologies partly aside and work for the best interests of the country's future, but I'm not convinced they will.

Thanks for your comment though, I appreciate seeing another view of the world on a site like this, where intelligent people can engage in intelligent debate. Thanks for showing me your view of things - we may not agree but I respect your opinion.

I think your point of view is compelling, it's just that I'm choosing to be optimistic, for all that's worth.

I hope that the nature of the coalition makes them think through some better thought-out economic policies by virtue of having to work together. I have my fingers-crossed but I can understand that this could also end up terribly.

I also totally agree with your point about sharing a different point on things. Your reply certainly has got me thinking.