James Mills is a web developer in the North East of England and founder of Refresh Teesside »
Mike Hughes is the Head of Business for the Evening Gazette. He will be blogging on all matters of importance to Teesside businesses - and some that are just worth knowing »
Jez Davison, business writer at the Evening Gazette, is a regular blogger on all things business - particularly finance, entrepreneurship and the state of the Teesside economy » 
Karen McLauchlan is the Evening Gazette's deputy business and features editor - with special interest in all things industry, property and arts related » 
Jeremy Middleton is a venture capitalist and the co-founder of FTSE-200 company HomeServe » 
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 » Last December, with the country just out of the deepest recession in post-war history, an unusual thing happened on Teesside.
Hartlepool manufacturer Exwold Technology announced it was poised to open its fourth North-east plant as it looked to double sales over the next few years.
At a time when the vast majority of firms were scaling back on capital investment, it was quite a story.
Now, though, expansion tales are becoming commonplace in the local news as revenue generation replaces cost-cutting as firms' main modus operandi.
Yet talk of a double-dip recession continues to stalk the markets as a raft of economic data pointed to falling business confidence.
Why is this, when the economy has stayed in growth territory since the UK officially escaped from recession in the final three months of last year?
One reason is the continued high level of public debt - not just in the UK but across Eurozone economies which consume the majority of North-east exports. Last month UK Government borrowing hit a higher-than-expected ã14.5bn, or ã15.2bn if the temporary effects of state financial intervention are stripped out.
Another reason is the deep public spending cuts announced by policymakers and continuing uncertainty over how the measures will affect specific Government departments.
Add weak economic growth to the mix - just 1.7% in the nine months to June - and it might help to explain why confidence is wavering.
Optimists will highlight the Government's pledge to support private sector investment, the fact that the economy has so far avoided the dreaded double-dip, the higher-than-expected 1.1% rise in output during the second quarter and a robust bounce-back in retail and automotive markets.
In June UK car production rose 28.6% on the same month in 2009, while household goods stores enjoyed their strongest annual growth for more than two years.
There is also the realisation - markets sometimes get distorted by illogical and ill-founded fears - that underlying demand for mainstream consumer goods is starting to return. People still need to buy clothes, live in houses and drive cars.
But while business writers and analysts endlessly debate the health of the economy, the truth is we are no nearer to knowing whether the patient has left the sick bed for good.
The UK economy has reached a cross-roads and a double-dip is as difficult to predict as a strong revival.
All we can do is take the temperature gauge of local businesses.
The general message from Teesside firms is that the worst is over and that steady, rather than spectacular, growth has been factored into their planning.
Staff recruitment is also on the agenda, with temporary contracts giving firms extra flexibility should the economy nosedive again.
My personal forecast chimes with the Teesside line: weak growth and no double dip.
But brighter analysts than I have learnt that making predictions is a fool's game.
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