Martha Kearney's week

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By Martha Kearney Presenter, BBC Radio 4's World at One

We had a lovely present for the programme this week.

Old bangers: Let's hope the economy is not headed here

Mrs Pat Sweetman sent a book for the whole team.

It is an illustrated copy of William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience, with the inscription "thank you for providing such graphic journalistic skill and imaginative use of English".

That made a nice change from listeners' complaints about grammatical faux pas. (or should that be faux pases, pas's even?)

The book brought back memories for me of student life when I narrated the poems in the gardens of New College while various undergraduates pranced about in floaty clothes.

But it was the dark satanic mills of the economy which preoccupied the programme on Thursday after the Bank of England's decision to increase quantitative easing (QE).

Real world?

I quoted one of its Monetary Policy Committee members who said that QE "is like making a journey in an urgent hurry, driving a 10-year-old used Vauxhall Vectra with a cranky transmission, down a rural road because the M4 is closed, without a good map or signage, and with all kinds of strange surprises blocking traffic. You will get where you are going using QE, but you are not sure how long it will take to get there, and you will not enjoy the ride."

One of our listeners emailed to say: "As someone obliged to edge a dodgy old banger down the muddy lanes of Devon with a near-empty, petrol tank ten miles from the nearest filling station may I welcome the Bank of England to the real world."

The messages from the real world are mixed after last quarter's GDP figures showing we are still mired in recession but then Thursday's manufacturing output and car sales sending more optimistic signals.

But the Bank's view is obviously that the economy is still in need of a boost and many businesses are still complaining about the availability of credit.

Conservative Treasury spokesman David Gauke quoted us in Parliament this week: "Last month we saw a record fall in bank lending to smaller businesses, with a 40% drop in lending to manufacturing firms.

When one of my guests, Conservative MP Grant Schapps said that the fact that so many people were wearing poppies was a sign of support for the war, we got several angry emails from listeners who maintained that supporting help for the wounded is very different from support for the campaign itself

"The CBI and members of the Monetary Policy Committee have highlighted lack of credit as a major impairment to the recovery, but Lord Myners told "The World at One" there was "no problem with the availability of credit".

Does the minister agree with the noble Lord, or does he live in the real world?"

Paul Myners' argument is that there are fewer applications for loans from businesses because in a recession many prefer to pay off debt rather than to borrow more.

Strategy in jeopardy'

The issue which has dominated the week has been the deaths of those five British servicemen in Afghanistan which means that this has been the bloodiest year for our armed forces since the Falklands War.

When the news broke on Wednesday I interviewed the Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth who told me: "I was extremely saddened to hear of the deaths of these courageous soldiers. It continues to be a difficult year in Afghanistan for our brave people who are operating within the most challenging area of the country."

But what does it mean for the mission in Afghanistan?

Kim Howells, the former Foreign Office minister is now calling for the troops to be withdrawn.

He warned that the whole "Afghanisation" strategy was now in jeopardy: "This is a real blow because it strikes right at the heart of that policy."

On Thursday, I interviewed the US Secretary for the Department of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano who acknowledged the difficulties raised by the Afghan campaign.

When I asked about Kim Howells' view that resources would be better spent on fighting terrorism at home, she explained that that was one of the factors which President Obama was weighing up which was why he was taking time to decide whether to send more troops or not.

The war is an issue which provokes strong emotions.

When one of my guests, Conservative MP Grant Schapps said that the fact that so many people were wearing poppies was a sign of support for the war, we got several angry emails from listeners who maintained that supporting help for the wounded is very different from support for the campaign itself.

We are always interested to hear your thoughts.