The end of the boom era
Updated on 24 October 2008
Inside the morning meeting.
It's official. The breaking news today is the quarterly GDP figures show the UK is in decline and heading for recession in January.
It is worse than people predicted, with economic output shrinking by 0.5 per cent between July and September. A recession is defined as a decline in GDP for two consecutive quarters or more - and this is the first.
"No one really thinks were not in it already. It is going to get worse before it gets better."
On the programme, they'll be a report from a steelworks in Sheffield, aka "real economy land", and Faisal Islam will be talking to the Chancellor, Alistair Darling.
"This is the moment of bust that [the government] said would never happen."
"People racked up debts because they were told it wouldn't happen."
"It's an iconic moment and you can't get away from that."
"Today marks the end of a 16 year boom, or growth at least. It's the morning they wake up and smell the coffee."
However, while the economy is contracting, does the 0.5 per cent need to be seen in the context of a 2 per cent growth rate per year for the last few years?
"The other side is that it's not just us." Markets are again down around the world. "That's not really much consolation though."
"Who is experiencing the worst? Is the US still growing?"
Pakistan, it seems, is one ally in the war on terror which is "looking at total and utter meltdown." They have already "gone cap in hand" to other countries for money, and this week approached the International Monetary Fund.
"How much do they owe to the UK?"
"Don't know - that's a good question."
"They owe a lot of money to the US."
Also today, OPEC (the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) will be meeting to find some sort of agreement to try and stem the drop in oil prices.
In other stories, the Menezes inquest is due to hear from C12, on of the officers who shot Jean Charles de Menezes. Neither of the officers gave evidence at the time.
The Association of Chief Police Officers have "agreed in principle" to changes to the way officers carrying firearms report incidents so that officers would have to write up their statements separately in the first instance. "There was a lot of conferring over Menezes."
And finally, Channel 4 News has the first interview with Welsh singer Tom Jones as he releases his first new album for 15 years.
"It may see him back at the top of the charts, if there is such a thing as the top of the charts still."
