Credit Crunch..Cities hit hardest.

Research group Centre for Cities  placed a number of cities on “red” alert for being exposed the most to the impact of the downturn, including Belfast, Liverpool, Wigan and Hull, because of the number of residents who were unemployed or had no qualifications.

Cities on “amber” included Bristol, London and Edinburgh, which all had strengths such as skilled populations and diverse industries but also weaknesses including exposure to vulnerable financial services.

Some cities were on “green”, mainly in the South East, a region said to be better placed to recover more quickly from the effects of the current recession.

                                         From  a   Personal Perspective.

Well perhaps those of us based outside the main cities will be okay then! Especially on the west coast. But back to this report…is not London considered to be the “south east”?? I guess this might be a case of you can prove anything with statistics…even the truth!

Other news coming out today is UK leading bank Barclay’s has delivered an upbeat statement, calming fears about the companies health, and that, despite something like £8 million write-downs, annual profit will still be way ahead of expectations, over 5 billion.

This news has given a lift to the beleaguered banking sector. Crisis, what crisis? Somehow, I doubt it… Banks overall are still reportedly not lending and still the massive credit overhang still plagues the world. But maybe at least some suggestion that the world might not after all come to a premature end.

All that is gold does not glitter!

Image by murdochious of flickr.