A couple of weeks ago two agents for the Bank of England crept into Peterborough – avoiding the press – and apparently told city business leaders fears of a recession were largely the result of media chatter.

The next thing you know, there is Bank of England governor Mervyn King handing out billions of pounds - £10 billion in fact - to any high street bank that can't make ends meet.

Media invention? No, the Bank's actions are a real sign of how challenging it is out there.

Over the years, many banks have taken a risk by mortgage lending to people who never had a hope of making the repayments in the first place.

Now they, particularly the likes of Northern Rock - being propped up by the UK taxpayer - and maybe the rest of us as time goes on, will have to pay for that recklessness.





Strangely though there are some bright spots amidst the financial gloom.

For instance our story today about Elsome Engineering, which is opening a new factory at Wisbech that will employ 20 people.

The Elsome Group has built up an excellent reputation and has positioned itself nicely in a niche market - food - and one for which there will always be a demand.

There are many Peterborough firms that are still doing very well.

Maybe it is just that the financial turmoil still has to seep down to all parts of the economy.

Whatever, in the Peterborough area there are actually reasons to be optimistic and let's beware of those who blame the credit crunch for all their ills.

For instance, the chief executive of fashion chain Next, Simon Wolfson, who is blaming the international financial turmoil for his company's recent poor sales performance. In truth Next has been underperforming for some time.