Updated 10:55am 11 February 2012:

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Peter Jackson

Peter Jackson

Welcome to Recession – next stop that ‘D’ place

THERE now, they’ve said it, the “d” word. Yes, now they’re talking about depression, and I don’t mean the kind of depression a Lehman Brothers employee might be feeling at the moment, but depression with a capital “D”, as in Great Depression.Read

The Russian bear really a paper tiger

THIS is a great time for those Life on Mars fans who are nostalgic for the 1970s. We have trades unions flexing their muscles, a Labour Government presiding over economic and fiscal meltdown – and a return to the Cold War.Read

Chancellor’s fine job of talking down the economy

A CONSTANT theme from some quarters during our current economic troubles has been that we mustn’t talk ourselves into a recession.Read

North East is slow to embrace the internet

TWO thirds of UK households, or almost 16.5m, now have internet access, up 1.2m on the year, according to official figures.Read

Testing time for Gordon’s strategy

GORDON Brown’s decision to hand over the setting of interest rates to the Bank of England was universally hailed as a brilliant move.Read

We could be on the road to economic recovery

IREAD that the Italian economy is shrinking with the imminent prospect of it going into recession. This is despite the valiant efforts of the Jackson family, which has just returned from that country loaded down with Tuscan recipe books and highly coloured fridge magnets.Read

Is the ignorant youth theme overworked?

A SURVEY has revealed how little our young people know about nature. The study, by the National Trust, finds that more than half of Britain’s children are confused by the difference between bees and wasps, although nine out of 10 can identify science fiction characters such as Yoda.Read

The signature of trouble?

NEW mortgages being approved for house purchases have hit a new low in the UK, down 64% on a year ago.Read

Tree plan typical of intrusive behaviour

HOMEOWNERS will have to pay for regular examinations of their garden trees, if the British Standards Institution (BSI) gets its way.Read

One ray of sunlight is peeping through gloom

THERE are many reasons not to be cheerful on the economic front at the moment.Read

Timing is everything – so it seems

I HAVE a knack of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. We once went on a family trip to New York, to find we had booked the St Patrick’s Day weekend.Read

All over a barrel with price of oil

AT THE time of writing, the price of oil has hit just short of US$127 a barrel, up from US$100 at the start of the year.Read

Memories of grim times and kipper ties in 70s

HIT television programme Life on Mars has resurrect- ed memories of the 1970s, and, let’s be honest, some of those memories are pretty grim.Read

A dangerous mood is being created

NO CLASSES are regarded with quite the same contempt as the middle classes. They are tarred with many sins and, in the face of all this insult, still remain docile.Read

Markets still turning away from reality

PEOPLE are warning that we must be careful not to talk ourselves into a recession. I don’t think there’s ever been a recession that has been talked into existence.Read

The true meaning of being British

HOW should we celebrate Britishness or the process of becoming British? Former Attorney General Lord Goldsmith wants a national holiday and for schoolchildren to take an oath of allegiance to the Queen – perhaps to be mumbled bashfully and to be followed by a nice cup of tea.Read

Peter Jackson, former business editor of The Journal and now a director of Press Ahead

That sinking feeling

LAST week I explained why, with a back-of-a-fag-packet calculation, £500bn was not an unreasonable figure for the exposure of world banks to sub-prime mortgage debt.Read

Peter Jackson column

THERE are some really bad hotels, but I don’t believe even a real life Fawlty Towers could plumb the depths permissible in some other sectors.Read

Peter Jackson column

Alcoholic drinks are to carry health warning labels by the end of next year, under a voluntary agreement between ministers and the industry.Read

Peter Jackson column

You really can't be too careful when it comes to logos. Actually, it's hard to believe, looking at the 2012 Olympics logo, that the Games organisers put much care into their choice at all.Read

Author Profile

Peter Jackson is a former business editor on The Journal who is now a director of PR agency Press Ahead. He is a native of Lancashire who worked in the City of London, after graduating from Oxford with a degree in Modern History. He entered journalism, working on papers in the North West, before joining The Journal as a business reporter in 1995. After a spell on features desk, he was business editor between 1999 and 2003. Under his editorship, the paper was names business paper of the year and in his time he won four regional and two national journalism awards, including BT Regional Business Journalist of the Year. He left The Journal to become managing director of Benchmark Media Newcastle and later joined Press Ahead as a director. He is also a non-executive director of Durham FM.

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