Credit Management November 2022

OPINION
Dramas and Headwinds
With one crisis after another history tells us that the
predictions carried with them do not always ring true.
AUTHOR – Glen Bullivant FCICM
Afew months ago, my daughter
and her husband drove up
from the jungle of the great
metropolis to spend time with
me in the civilised tranquillity
of God’s Own Country.
Breaking the journey, they pulled into a
motorway service area and the first thing they
heard on getting out of the car was a distinct “Ey
up” drifting across the car park as two strangers
greeted each other. Gemma looked at Joe, he
nodded, and they both agreed that they must be
in Yorkshire. Indeed, they were at the services
close to Wakefield and as such, well into the
county and not far from a decent cup of tea.
(When I said they were to spend time with me,
I fully acknowledge the fact that the visit was to
check that I was still breathing in and out, and
that all the insurance premiums were paid up
to date.)
The expression “Ey up” is one which has
greater potential than the usual “Good morning”
or “Good afternoon” as sometimes used by
Southern softies, in so far as it can be more than
just a greeting. It often precedes a comment
or opinion which can be about anything or
everything or nothing at all. I mention it only
because the end of September saw the Pound
Sterling fall to the floor with an almighty thud
and the news media went into overdrive – the
lowest rate against the US Dollar since the Dollar
was created in seventeen hundred and summat
or other. We were in a crisis, the like of which we
have never seen before, and it is almost certain
that the world will end next Tuesday fortnight.
Over my second cup of Yorkshire tea made
with boiling Yorkshire water, I muttered to
myself “Ey up, here we go again!!!”
The thing is, I have been in this business a long
time, and my thanks go to the officials at CICM
at this year’s Fellows Lunch for pointing this out
to members and guests with what can only be
described as some glee. Since I launched myself
into this great profession back in nineteen
hundred, I have experienced more recessions,
booms and busts and associated crises than you
have had hot dinners, and each one has carried
with it predictions of the end of the world from
economic editors, financial gurus and casual
observers who once read a book. They are too
numerous to list here in full but suffice to say
they included power cuts and three-day weeks
lit by candles, the Pound Sterling falling off a
cliff, interest rates to make your eyes water and
company failures in various industry sectors
with spectacular losses and thousands made
❝
The expression
“Ey up” is
one which
has greater
potential than
the usual “Good
morning”
or “Good
afternoon” as
sometimes used
by Southern
softies, in so
far as it can be
more than just a
greeting.
❝
jobless. The world will never be the same again,
they said; we must learn from the mistakes
made, they said; this must not happen again,
they said.
Well, it did and no doubt it will again.
I agree that this crisis has an edge to it which
could be described as unprecedented – the
UK economy has been far from robust for
quite some time, and nobody saw the COVID
pandemic coming, and certainly could not have
known that it would last as long as it did and
that the full impact was going to be with us for
some years to come.
Just when it began to feel safe to get back in
the water, Vlad the Impaler embarked upon
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / November 2022 / PAGE 12