James Mills is a web developer in the North East of England and founder of Refresh Teesside »
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Karen McLauchlan is the Evening Gazette's deputy business and features editor - with special interest in all things industry, property and arts related » 
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Deloitte, which has 23 offices across the UK including Newcastle, is among the country's leading professional services firms » 
ClimateNE & Climate Change Schools Project support the move to a low-carbon, resilient economy and help businesses avoid risk and realise commercial opportunities. Posts by Jen Atkinson, Krista McKinzey and Harriet Thew » It's hard to believe that we've managed to do any business at all in recent days given the global financial meltdown that's engulfed us all.
Or so many national commentators would have us believe. The reality, however, is somewhat different.
There's always a risk in making comments of this sort that it starts to sound like Jim Callaghan asking "Crisis? What crisis?" while Britain suffered under the economic stagnation of the 1970s. Of course there is something quite serious going on in global financial markets.
But to what extent does it impact upon the so-called 'real economy' - in other words the one you and I operate in, as opposed to the slightly artificial world of the City? Only in a limited sense, according to NECC members.
They've been telling us that there is a slight slowdown in property investment, largely because of people exercising some caution in these uncertain times. But businesses are still able to find the finance to start up, to invest in their plants and their staff, and to grow. All around us we hear success stories - some big ones, like Nissan, Durham Tees Valley Airport or Seadragon, and many small ones, with growing firms taking on new staff, which individually pass under the radar, but collectively make for a healthy North East economy.
The danger with the constant barrage of tales of woe in the financial markets is we talk ourselves into a downturn by believing growth is impossible. It's not, and many North East companies are proving that day in, day out.
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