I am one of many who take what one reads in the media with a pinch of salt. Only today I read an article in one of the nations more reputed tabloids in which a columnist commented that our recession will be short but sweet. This came from the same person I can remember reacting to the Lehmans collapse recently by claiming we will not be plunged into a recession at all! Now he admits we are already in one. A quick bit of googling and I discover another fairly recent article by the same person claiming that the markets are set for a buoyant end to the year! I dread to think what he might write if his savings were with Icesave.

So consistency has never been the name of the game in media circles, that’s no secret, and it reaches the point where it’s best to see beyond the headlines and find out the story for ones self. At the time of the Lehmans collapse I took great interest as an old friend had earlier in the year been delighted to have secured a position with them. Naturally I became concerned, wondering how this had affected him. We met for lunch in Canary Wharf and it was the case that he, like others, had been ‘approached’ weeks in advance by competitors and as such was now secure.

However I was not prepared for the almost circus-like activity in the busy bar we had entered. Every table seemed to have piles of printed matter in front of everyone sat at them and individuals were walking round between the tables holding brief conversations with those sat & leaving with copies of said printed matter. I had experienced ‘speed headhunting’ for the first time!

Upon leaving to return home I thought back to what I had read in the paper just a day before. One described turmoil, another spoke of the collapse of Canary Wharf, and another even referred to the activity in Canada Square to be similar to a scene from 28 Days Later! My experience was the opposite. The atmosphere was calm, even jovial, and most certainly not pessimistic. Now of course this was not the case for everyone and yes there were those seriously affected by the losses, but the key point in this is that once the media hears of a story they love to inject a bit of fear factor, don’t they? And why? Because we, as a whole, believe it.