Good riddance to a bad year was very much the feeling of revellers as 2008 departed and the new year was ushered in. With unprecedented levels of gloom over falling house prices, rising unemployment and a credit crunch that has left most financial commentators lost for words – surely things can only get better in 2009! Well let’s hope so – though the omens are hardly optimistic.

To combat the gloom my wife, daughter and I decided to break with tradition and go to London to see the new year in and to do it in style on the roof top of the Houses of Parliament. With Big Ben staring across at us like an expectant child, crowds packing Parliament Square and the London Eye ready for the greatest fireworks show on earth (not counting the Beijing Olympics display of course) we were ready for a somewhat special celebration. We were not disappointed – at the stroke of midnight Big Ben burst into action with deafening pride to cheers from over 500,000 revellers as the most brilliant firework display I have even witnessed lit up the Westminster sky.

Thirty minutes later it was all over but as we walked back to my flat along the banks of the Thames accompanied by the rest of the world – or that is what it seemed from the accents and languages spoken – I had a real feeling of optimism about 2009. Indeed I was expecting the year to get off in even more dramatic form as I was due to travel down to the Antarctic on January 2nd to join the British Antarctic Survey as they carried out scientific experiments to examine climatic conditions over one millions years ago.

I say expecting because I had not bargained for ‘woman’ ‘flu’ – a deadly and far more virulent strain of the ‘man’ ‘flu I usually get each year. Alongside almost every other person I have spoken to the next eight days were spent not on the ice of the Antarctic but in my bed at home! Strange isn’t it how mother nature has a habit of bringing you down to earth?

However I refuse to be downbeat so early in a new year and armed with this resolve returned to Westminster on Monday to play my part in what promises to be a year of unprecedented challenge. Gordon Brown and his Ministers have gone into a frenzy of activity with millions of pounds being allocated to projects aimed at stemming the loss of jobs which in some parts of the country has reached epidemic proportions. Inevitably politicians of all persuasions row in with their own solutions and the inevitable criticism of each other whilst a bemused public get about responding to the economic downturn in their own homes and families.

In reality – if there was a silver bullet which would bring confidence back to the banking situation, restore faith in the economy and allow countries to resume trading as before then I suspect action would have already been taken. In reality there is no such easy, one stop solution and rather like my dose of ‘flu we need to take appropriate medicine and wait of recovery. How long we wait I expect will depend on many factors but talking down our chances of recovery, believing that blaming others will somehow restore confidence is misguided.

On my way to London on Monday – I was asked to open a new hardware business in Harrogate – such was the optimism of the new owner to make things happen rather than waiting for someone else to do so. Harrogate and Knaresborough remains a fantastic place to live and do business – keep that in mind and who knows 2009 may yet turn into a year to remember.

A happy, healthy and successful New Year to all readers.

End.

Phil Willis MP

Harrogate Advertiser, February 2009