Don't shoot the messenger

THE LEADER

Back at the beginning of the credit crunch, it was fairly common to read articles and hear comments warning the media was talking the country into a recession.

The BBC’s Robert Peston was, in some quarters, blamed for bringing down Northern Rock single-handedly, while at the same time sucking all the confidence out of the once free-spending British consumer. The idea was that, despite some economic imbalances, the real danger was a crisis of confidence brought about by a story-hungry media. This view ignored the harsh economic realities on the horizon. As it turns out, there was a massive crisis of confidence, one which is arguably yet to fully resolve itself. But the lack of confidence was based on some real numbers and some very real lending ...