“Consumer confidence is the lowest we’ve seen in over three decades,” says boss of the Mouse House, Robert Iger. But revenue is growing and profits (though down on last year) are an impressive £485m at Disney. The firm has seen hotel bookings fall and is finding it harder to get top dollar from advertising on its TV channel: Disney owns the ESPN and ABC television networks as well as theme parks and resorts. It also owns High School Musical, which, as anyone aged 12 will tell you, is the most important thing on the planet right now.

“Britain’s bosses are bastards.” So would read my headline to encapsulate the findings of a survey by recruitment consultants Endaba, who interviewed over 5,000 workers. 50% think their CEOs don’t care about staff, and 40% believe bosses don’t say what they mean (er…lie). Lynette Deutsch, boss of Endaba, said: “Lack of trust can lead to lack of confidence. In an unstable market, this can have a devastating effect on organisations and their share prices - as we are witnessing on a daily basis during the current economic crisis.” But the chances are she’s lying.

“Budget” brands are already stealing the march on the competition as the country tightens its belt, and Travelodge is putting the boot in with the announcement that its will introduce £5m worth of price cuts in the run up to Christmas. That means the average room rates in 15 UK cities would fall by an average of 10%, and it’s selling some rooms for next spring at £9. Travelodge, owned by Dubai International Capital, Travelodge currently has 350 hotels in the UK and 11 overseas and recently announced another 21 openings in the UK. An extraordinary flexing of “the guns” at a time when recent PricewaterhouseCoopers figures show hotel insolvencies have risen 150%.