A local paper claims “The Credit Crunch may be with us, but the British Public will not be letting this spoil their Christmas.”

The Article also includes Surveys which suggest that “this year the average household will still spend £483 at Christmas” and that “67% weren’t going to let it affect their purchasing power for children this Christmas”. This is too optimistic.

It is not being a “Scrooge” to say that we need a dose of reality - to enjoy a simpler Christmas where people matter more than things.

The collapse of the over-inflated Housing Market has triggered the Recession, which will be deep, hard and long. The Slump, fuelled by personal and collective debt, may lead to a meltdown of the global capitalist system.

130 homes are being repossessed on average daily, which is equivalent to 47,450 homes in one year. This number is predicted to rise to 75,000 next year. That’s why the Government has intervened to make provision for a two year freeze on mortgage interest payments for those people who are facing the loss of a job or a large drop in their incomes.

Meanwhile, some families are still being made homeless with mounting waiting lists for social housing. There will be increasing numbers of people struggling to celebrate Christmas at home if they are lucky enough to have one.

It is good that the Royal Bank of Scotland has followed the Government’s advice and given a 6 months breathing space for mortgage defaulters to sort out their finances or find alternative accommodation. Other larger Mortgage Lenders should follow suit. Just when they most need financial support, Housing Charities, such as Shelter and Crisis, have experienced a dramatic drop in donations.

It is clear that we have been living beyond our means both collectively and individually in the UK for a number of years. The wasteful and prolific character, in Charles Dickens’ Novel: “David Copperfield”, Wilkins Micawber, failed to practise what he preached. In Chapter 12, he pontificated and gave advice on 2 basic Principles for sound and safe living: Never do to-morrow what you can do today.

If a man has twenty pounds income a year and spends nineteen pounds nineteen shillings and sixpence, he will be happy; but, if spends twenty pounds and sixpence, he will be miserable.

However, Mr Micawber was inclined to put off the day of reckoning by repeating the mantra: “something will turn up” and, even, exacerbated his situation by asking for another loan while he was incarcerated in the Debtors’ Prison and other penniless and homeless acquaintances were faced with the Workhouse.

He had to rely on relatives and friends to bail him out and pay off his debts on a number of occasions. This was a regular feature of Dickensian Urban Society with its rampant free market forces and little or no state support for vulnerable impoverished citizens.

While, fortunately, we do not have Debtors’ Prisons and Workhouses to day and there is a Welfare safety net, the level of indebtedness – debt posing as credit – is widespread. Yet, some sadly are trying to buy their way out of debt by borrowing – to the current amount of £1.5 trillion nationally.

In order to get through this crisis and, in some cases, personal tragedy, we need to support one another and encourage a more sustainable save and pay-as-you-go way of life.