Welcome to Grim

Actually, it's not grim at all. The daffodils are out and the weather is pleasant. And Blackpool FC secured a draw yesterday guaranteeing another year of Championship football.

The UK newspapers paint a different picture though. By the time I had finished reading the Saturday edition of the Daily Telegraph, I was ready to head back to Heathrow and fly back home. I will not be alone. According to today's Sunday Times, a number of leading business figures are planning to depart these shores.

The headlines say it all:

Blair's despair over 50% tax rate
Big Brother (the Government) will monitor every email, call and text
Middle-class jobless crisis grows
Darling forecast hammered by GDP fall
UK faces a decade of severe austerity

Welcome then to 'Grim'.

I have a heavy schedule of meetings across the UK over the next two weeks. Against this backdrop of economic 'doom & gloom', I have to find evidence of green shoots. Certainly, this is nothing like the more composed response to the global 'crisis' I have experienced in NZ, and more recently HK. It is going to be an interesting fortnight.