The Business - 11/01/2009

Presented by Jamie McIvor. In a week when interest rates were cut to their lowest level for 300 years and the very last branches of Woolworths closed for the final time, Professor Donald MacRae, chief economist with Lloyds TSB, and Ian McMillan, director of CBI Scotland, give their assessment of the state of the economy. Graham Stewart asks the managing director of BT Business, Bill Murphy, how the telecoms giant will cope with a collapsing demand for landline calls and a slump in broadband growth at a time of recession. Gillian Sharpe reports on some businesses which seem to be bucking the gloomy recessionary trend. And, with Scottish law firms laying off employees and introducing shorter working hours, Ian Smart, vice president of the Law Society of Scotland explains the challenges faced by what was once regarded as one of the most secure professions.