Welcome to the December/January issue of FD Legal. I had hoped to bring some early Christmas cheer to this issue; however I fear that Father Christmas will be bringing nothing less than a full-blown recession down the chimneys of one and all.

As for the countdown to the New Year, given the current climate, I think the following would be more appropriate than the usual merriment:

10…thousand jobs to be cut by BT – the latest in what can only be described as a worldwide Christmas cull, with law firm redundancies a permanent fixture in the headlines. But as was laid out in a press release recently received by the FD Legal team, one leading employment lawyer says that the best time for many people to be told they’ve lost their job, or for employers to make somebody redundant, is actually as close to Christmas as possible. I certainly wouldn’t want that lawyer as my ‘secret Santa’.

9….teen thirties – the decade of the Great Depression: an era with which our current crisis is being compared. At least our leaders are finally acknowledging that yes, there is a problem, a very big problem. Spare a thought for the 1929 US presidential adviser, Bernard Baruch, who on 15 November 1929 sent a cablegram to Winston Churchill saying “Financial storm definitely passed”…

8… per cent – the proportion of jobs to be lost in London by the end of 2010, according to a report by the Local Government Association.

7… years ago – the last time the UK was sliding into a recession. We never quite made it to a formal recession thanks to Gordon Brown… who would have thought it?

6… month (half-yearly) figures – are trickling in, with some firms being rather more obliging with figures than others. A mixed bag of results so far that doesn’t follow any discernible trend, other than demonstrating that surviving the downturn is really anybody’s game.

5… year low – for the pound against the dollar last month.

4… weeks, exactly – the time it took the Financial Services Compensation Scheme to e-mail me and tell me they were pleased to confirm the arrangements by which I would be paid compensation for my savings with Icesave.

3… years – before we are likely to see ourselves emerging from this recession.

2… fingers – you should keep as tightly crossed as possible.

1… man we should all have listened to – Nouriel Roubini (nicknamed Dr Doom) who told economists at an International Monetary Fund meeting in September 2006 that a crisis was coming, laying out the sequence of events that would lead to the crippling of financial institutions, a deep recession and the shutdown of global financial systems. But did anyone listen at the time? Unfortunately, they did not. Was he right? He certainly was. Roubini has been hitting prediction-nails on the head, and his audience has shifted from being amused to being amazed.

0… the amount of enthusiasm – I now have for shouting “Happy New Year”.

I would, however, like to thank all those who have helped me with this issue of FD Legal and also to take the opportunity to wish you, the readers, a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

Joanna Lee

Editor

If there are any issues you would like to see covered or if you wish to contribute please do get in touch. Any feedback would also be very gratefully received.