Lehmans battered/other banks crumbling - good time to start a business

I woke this morning to the cheery Monday morning news that, as expected over the weekend, Lehman Brothers has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Those who've been in tech PR for a while will recall Chapter 11 from the tech bust of 2001 - it was all the rage back then, with clients extending courteous invitations to agencies to "be our strategic partner through the Chapter 11 process". No thanks mate we thought, but actually in many cases it gave businesses the ability to stabilise from a heady period of economic boom as a more resilient, sucessful operation.

So Chapter 11 may not be all that bad: a lifeboat for sure, but a way to weed out the wobbly bits.

And to provide further Monday cheer, the UK has today been named the sixth best place in the world to start a business. Yes money is tight, yes your bank may not be there when you turn up cap in hand, but many of the best businesses are conceived from the depths of recession.

Tech PR seems to be holding its own in this country, but equally several agencies have been laying people off recently. It's not a time for the faint-hearted, but my guess is that the strong will shine through and we'll see several hot tech PR start-ups born over the next year that become the next generation of challengers.

And no this is not a subliminal plug for something I'm starting on the side.