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While the headlines shrieked for Hammer Horror-style shock and sympathy, it is vital to step back and compare the general public reaction to the fate of Lehman Brothers, when 4000 people were made redundant in a single day, with the slow demise of Northern Rock.

Details such as "many were clutching boxes of belongings, some carrying cases of vintage wine" in the reports of Lehman Brothers staff being sent home without a job failed to muster much sympathy among the public.

Another thing to note was the comments on online blogs, which showed we really are a country of two halves - a southern side proud of the wealth generated by our City and a grittier northern outlook.

"The pubs in Essex will be a bit quieter this weekend that's for sure", and "Normally we lose, about time the banks did. Welcome to the real world" were just a couple of the remarks posted online about Lehman Brothers' change in fortunes.

Why the lack of compassion from some quarters? Well, Lehman Brothers did not have branches and therefore we had no scared pensions standing on pavements with their account details desperately trying to get their hands on their cash and stuff it under the mattress.

It wasn't until the purchase of HBoS that the average man on the street truly grasped bankers losing their jobs was a bad thing immediately.

The cost to the economy was not quite so clear to the vast majority of people who had never heard of Lehman Brothers and given the doom and gloom of the last 12 months since the run on Northern Rock were not surprised to hear about a financial services company being brought down to its knees.

Finger nail-biting industry commentators however instantly questioned whether the demise of Lehman Brothers would be the thing that finally plunged us into a full blown recession and caused a return to mortgage lenders increasing rather than decreasing home loan rates.

I am getting bored by a lot of the speculation about a recession and would like to point to another business story from last week.

J Sainsbury chief Justin King said the supermarket giant was facing the worst run-up to Christmas he had ever seen.

Mr King said consumers were gloomier than he has ever known them, they were even more pessimistic than those who were slap bang in the middle of a recession,

Mr King said: "The business environment is tough but there have probably been Christmases in the last 20 years which were right into the middle of not just a technical recession but four, five, six quarters of recession. But if you are asking about whether sentiment is worse than it has ever been, yes I think it is."

Sentiment is unlikely to get any better following Lehman's decision to file for bankruptcy and Lloyds TSB's purchase of HBoS.

The saddest comment on the various online blogs about Lehman's demise came from the wife of a now former employee who worked in IT at the once great investment bank.

She wrote: "My husband earned a reasonably good wage, not a fortune like everyone seems to think everyone associated with a bank does.

"Last week he went to work thinking it was going to get tough for a while, this week we are wondering how we are going to pay our mortgage and feed our three small children."

Just when you thought the choppy waters of the credit crunch seemed to have calmed, along comes a crashing wave to rock the boat again.