Is the recession really over – or is the worst still to come? On the latest Business podcast, Aditya Chakrabortty and the panel discuss the conflicting reports – from the NIESR, the IMF, the CBI and others – about economic recovery.
Also in the podcast, Stefan Szymanski from the Cass Business School analyses the business of football. Over the last decade, we've grown used to players' telephone number salaries and sheiks, oligarchs and tycoons buying up Premier League teams. So how is that when the rest of the world is tightening their belts, Real Madrid can spend £80m on a single player?
Finally, Phillip Inman and Jill Treanor give their views on the state of Britain's building societies. A quarter of them are expected to fall into the red this year – are they a relic of a bygone financial age?
