Governor of the Bank of England Mervyn King and CBI head John Cridland illustration as Macbeth's Witches. With the UK economy still in the doldrums various experts predict the recovery will begin soon.

In this image the three men seek to tell what shape the up-turn will take when it comes: V-shaped indicating a sharp up-turn, U, bringing a smoother change and W indicating growth followed by a brief downturn and then a further period of growith. Since this image was created the UK has experienced the slowest recovery on record and many sources are predicting the up-turn will not be sustained and could come before many people feel any economic benefit at all.