The Business - 04/01/2009

Glenn Campbell presents an extended edition of the programme, taking stock of the unprecedented economic turmoil of the past year and looking ahead to what might lie in store for business and the economy in 2009. Chancellor Alistair Darling tells us how he plans to kickstart the economy, ahead of what's expected to be official confirmation later this month that Britain is in recession. Our reporter Laura Maciver looks back at some of the defining economic moments of 2008, the year that the term 'credit crunch' entered the English dictionary. Providing analysis are our studio panel: * Brian Quinn, a former deputy governor of the Bank of England, who now serves as a non-executive director for the Qatar financial services authority and as an advisor to both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund; * Fiona McBain, chief executive of one of Britain's last surviving mutuals, Scottish Friendly; * Fund manager Colin McLean, managing director of Edinburgh-based SVM Asset Management; * and BBC Scotland's business and economy editor Douglas Fraser. IMF director Barry Potter explains why governments across the world have little alternative but to spend their way out of the recession. First Minister Alex Salmond tells us who he blames for the collapse of Scotland's banks and outlines the challenges the Scottish Government faces in stimulating the economy. Finally, we get some advice for businesses from John Anderson, chief executive of The Entrepreneurial Exchange, and Jack Perry, who heads up Scottish Enterprise.