Fight them in the shopping malls
Updated on 24 November 2008
In modern Britain the chancellor turns to the shops to try and jump start the economy.
One of the country's biggest is Merry Hill shopping centre, near Dudley in the Black Country.
It opened in the late 1980s on the site of an old steel works, and came of age in the last recession during the early 1990s.
There are 220 major stores in the centre and in the run-up to Christmas, the car park has been packed.
Where better than to assess whether consumers can, or even want, to spend us out of the recession.
Live discussion
It may be that shoppers here are the foot soldiers of any recovery but the heavy artillery will have to be the businesses in this region - and up and down the country. To assess whether the government has the firepower for business Alex Thomson is joined by some local businessmen.
