Our monthly update on the state of the UK economy. Over the Christmas and New Year period, retail sales were reported to be well up on the same period a year earlier, the housing market has continued to recover and while investment intentions remained muted, few firms planned a further round of sharp cuts following last year’s sizable reductions in spending.

The mobile broadband industry highlights the poor performance of UK internet connectivity as a whole.

If our country is serious about long term economic growth then we would do well to start focusing on delivering faster internet speeds through both mobile data and line broadband.

An agent's summary of business conditions from the Bank of England as of September 2009.

Among other things, this report shows that consumer spending has grown modestly, the recovery in housing marketing activity has continued and employment intentions are less negative than earlier in the year.

One of the troubles with growth is that it creates a knock-on demand for more growth - in overhead! And as the overhead in a busines grows, the scarier it becomes. Before I get to the connection with skiing, let me expand a little on what I mean:

Take our Service Function for example - as we add more customers, as we launch additional services and as we strive to service customers better - this in turn requires better management and more comprehensive management systems and platforms.

But despite the risks, we continued with the search for three new sales consultants - and I am pleased to report that we have now found three excellent graduates.

Each has their particular qualities and character - but as a team, they will work well together. They will form the core of a new lead generation and qualification unit...

With the recession in full swing, companies are shedding staff or putting a freeze on recruitment.

Yet Backup Direct is still hiring.

It fills me with a mix of feelings: guilt (are we risking too much?), paranoia (what if things get worse – ‘cos only the paranoid survive), weakness (why aren’t we being bolder?), and frustration (shouldn’t someone be helping us – we add more value than some banks after all!). I could go on...