ON the day that both the CBI and the British Chambers of Commerce both suggest that the British economy is in good health, you would hope that we have now turned the corner.

It’s been a long haul since 2008. Those of us a certain age have seen cyclical economic peaks and troughs come and go, but the most recent recession has lasted longer than most.

The charge by the Opposition that the recovery has taken too long lacks an understanding of sustainable economics.

Nobody wants a return to the days when people were buying things they didn’t need, with money they didn’t have. The days of dishing out credit cards willy-nilly are hopefully behind us. Of course, there are areas of the country and communities where it will take time for the benefits of a growing economy to trickle down.

The over-riding priority for any Government, of whichever colour, is to manage growth. It is the same for companies, large or small. Look what happened back in the '80s when a number of dealers added branches in the boom years, which ultimately proved hard to look after properly.

There have been worrying signs recently that we could be returning to those bad old days. Earlier this year, my son and his wife were trying to buy a house in East London – and found themselves in this dreadful situation of an  ‘open-house’ day, when they were given a 30 minutes viewing slot to look round and then asked to put in a sealed bid.

Crikey, it sometimes took more time to persuade an argumentative couple to choose between a Flymo Hover or a Qualcast Concorde costing less than 50 quid – who would then demand top dollar for their beat-up push mower as a trade-in!.

Buying a house is the biggest expenditure that most of us ever have to commit to – and to reduce the process to such an impersonal and callous transaction demonstrates that some estate agents still have a long way to go to regain their moral compass.

Fortunately, the dangers appear to have been appreciated – and the practice is already being stopped by some leading estate agents

As ever, the state of the economy influences our mood.  However, the weather – over which we have zero control - largely influences our business, and in many ways I would rather it be that way.

At least politicians can’t argue about the direction of the wind, anti-cyclones in the Azores or snow flurries in June.