This is about the most realistic assessment from a bankster to date. The banking crisis is now impacting the general population and will continue to do so. It may not be good news or encouraging news but this is the real world.
John Varley, the chief executive of Barclays Bank, believes the recession "feels deep and prolonged" and will last at least another year – a stark contrast with the more upbeat forecasts delivered by Alistair Darling in Wednesday's Budget.
The gloomy assessment, delivered at the bank's annual general meeting yesterday, was made as the CBI published new figures showing that British industry faces the most difficult conditions for three decades.
Mr Varley said that the UK economy was now facing a crisis that was "equally ugly" to that which the banking sector had suffered. "This recession feels deep and prolonged," he said. "We need to be realistic about when the inflection point will come... we're going to be living in difficult times, at least for another year."
