As the credit crunch evolves into something more akin to a great white shark attack on the UK’s economy the toll on jobs grows daily.

We are seeing job losses and budget cuts across the board, from small and medium size enterprises to the mammoth corporations where not so long ago their disappearance from the high street would have been unthinkable.

No one is safe it seems.

Never mind bemoaning the passing of the concept of a job for life, most are worrying about a job for the rest of the year!

This country is no stranger to hard times, and in the past the bulldog spirit has overcome numerous foes and national catastrophies.

The Second World War War ended almost 64 years ago and people of that era survived the bombings and learned to live with the privations inflicted by shortages and rationing.

There was very little in the way of money or food, let alone life’s luxuries.

So perhaps this would be a good time to let those folk, the grans and grandads of today, enlighten the present ‘must have then throw away’ society how to live on limited means - and within a strict budget.

There could be valuable lessons to be learned that might ease the pain of the present crisis and stand the whole community in good stead when we emerge battered but unbowed into the financial sunlight once more.

One aspect of the present difficulties that sometimes seems to be disregarded is that there will always be peaks and troughs in business and in life.

And if it’s possible to ride out the storm without devastating people’s lives then those who have hung on to their skilled staff will be ready to take full advantage of the upturn when it arrives, as it most surely will.

Joe Scicluna, Editor.