The evidence isn’t just anecdotal either. In recent weeks we have of course seen interest rate cuts, banking calamities and taxpayers exposed to previously unimaginable levels of support for what were and should be commercial concerns.

Yesterday KPMG chiefs warned of the very real effects of the credit crunch. John Griffith-Jones said: 'The banks are tremendously busy as you would expect, getting the accounts right this year end. Clients, and the profession as a whole, are on trial.'

Chief executive Colin Cook added: ‘Conditions have changed. They're not the same for M&A as they were six to nine months ago. August was clearly a big problem. Between August and now, people have begun to understand the extent of the credit crunch and seeing conditions which are, broadly speaking, benign, turning around gradually. Now there are particularly fewer buyout transactions, as there's a shortage of acquisition finance for them.'

Meanwhile earlier in the week the Financial Reporting Council struck preemptively, publishing a four-page list of factors today aimed at the boards and management of the FTSE350, in the belief that risks to confidence in corporate reporting and governance are higher than they have been for some years.

Chief executive Paul Boyle warned: ‘Corporate reporting and auditing will be particularly challenging this year and needs to be matched by increased diligence and then clarity as to the basis on which judgements have been exercised.’ The full list - a sensible one - is well worth a read. Especially if you are a banker, a retailer, a property developer or a travel agent - the sector the Financial Reporting Review Panel will be paying close attention to next year.

The horror stories won't end there either.

All this makes me think back to the summer when the credit crunch was more of a nibble. Plenty of people told me then how quickly the City ‘unlearns’ things and how activity would recover in the new year.

I can’t imagine they are so confident now.

Happy Christmas.