They gleefully prophase trouble and strife, rising costs, falling house values...They ought to be wearing undertaker's overcoats and stove-pipe hats.

It's depressing. And it's scare-mongering. Do we really need to be told, every single day, how bad things might get? That fuel bills are going to rise by another 40 per cent and that house prices are going to plummet? That one day soon, a full tank of petrol is going to cost more than your car's worth?

What is all this scary stuff supposed to make us do - NOT buy that new pair of shoes? Cancel that summer holiday? Or slit our wrists with a second-hand razor blade?

It's obvious that, as the cost of living increases, it's sensible to be more careful with your cash. But if you don't do some of the things that make you feel better, then the razorblade becomes more of an option, in my opinion.

What do you think? Post your comment below.

A recession might well be on its way, but there's too much gloom and doom talk.

The hunch-shouldered harbingers aren't going to get to those of us who remember the sky-high interest rates of the late Eighties. If it happens, we'll get through it. We did the last time. And the time before that.

But they do un-nerve the younger, always had it good generation - and feed the people who prefer to see life through a black veil of negativity.

Would-be first-time buyers complain that they can't get a 100 per cent mortgage and that it will take them ages to save up a big enough deposit to satisfy the mortgage company. Err, what's wrong with that? When my ex and I bought our first house (a one-bedroomed in Kirk Sandall for the princely sum of £18,000), that's what you had to do.

And until you had enough in your building society savings account, you stayed with your parents. Couples couldn't live together until they could afford to, and that was that.

It made a lot of sense - it gave couples a good grounding in family finances. You learned that you couldn't have things until you could afford them.

We managed without a fridge for six months. My mother's garden furniture graced our dining room for two years. And when we did have enough cash to buy a proper dining suite, we were chuffed to little mint balls.

That table and chairs lasted me over 20 years. Because I valued it, I was always loathe to sling it out and buy a newer, trendier one like so many people do these days.

There IS a credit crunch going on, but that's only because so many of us have walked straight into the credit trap. Enticed by the have it now, pay for it later philosophy laid at our feet by the banks, building societies, loans and credit card companies, we have become a nation of spoilt brats.