The Office for National Statistics has said today, Tuesday, that the economy grew in the last quarter by 0.1 per cent and that we have officially, on paper at least, come out of the longest recession in history.

This is good news, certainly for the Government who will be able to trumpet that before the next election and of course it can only be good for the rest of us to come out of the slump.

But have you felt anything change in the past few months? How long will it take to trickle down to the people living and working in Clifton, running businesses and paying mortgages.

There has certainly been a lot of new businesses springing up on Whiteladies Road and in the village, but a fair number have also gone to the wall of course.

Clifton is probably one of the areas less badly hit by this recession, but even so there have been plenty of firms shut and jobs lost.

I really hope 2010 is the year of recovery, not only for Clifton, but the region as a whole.

I'd be ineterested to see what people think.