Swindon Jobs : The revolving door

No sooner had I written about the return of jobs (albeit temporary) to Swindon than another firm announces bad news.

Plus Semi, a semi-conductor manufacturer in Cheney Manor, are going to sack between 60 and 85 people out of a total staff of 115.

Why? Horribly simple I'm afraid. Round the world, people aren't buying chips (of the silicon variety) like they used to. On the phone, the current MD is friendly and philosophical. They just aren't getting the orders, he says, and so they may have to stop manufacturing altogether.

Meanwhile on BBC Wiltshire's Breakfast show, I hear about another man who may soon be cashing in his chips (of the potato variety). Damien Oakes took over the Manor Road Fish bar in Trowbridge 18 months ago. He was taking £18,000 a week and had no debts.

And today? Takings are down to £1,000 a week. Damien tells BBC Wiltshire that the whole parade by his chip shop is suffering. The hairdressers has closed, the newsagents is up for sale - what's going on?

All I can say is: get used to it. We're going to have good news and bad side by side on the money front for a year at least. Agencies will hire staff, companies will open and profit; meanwhile, other firms will undoubtedly fail and unemployment will continue to rise. Why? Because this is what one analyst recently called "the fat grinding middle" of the recession.

We're no longer at the beginning of the recession. We're surely nowhere near the end. And to risk quoting a great Briton, we might have only seen the end of the beginning.