No wonder we are heading for recession

Staying on the subject of recession,this morning's Independent carries a report that says British consumers are the most grumpy in the Western World

A survey by economists at BNP Paribas found

British households were more miserable about their fortunes than at any time since the survey began in 1974. The housing crash of the early 1990s, two miners' strikes, various energy crises, the three-day week, 9/11, 7/7, and the threat of nuclear annihilation during the cold war all failed to shred our optimism as comprehensively as the credit crunch.

and it adds

The British are, it seems, much more depressed about prospects than countries with much worse objective economic difficulties. Spain, for example, is grappling with double-digit unemployment rates and a housing crash, Ireland has seen a sharp slowdown, Denmark is already in recession, and Iceland faces 15.5 per cent interest rates. Yet the UK consumer still refuses to look on the bright side