On the breadline

1500 applying for 95 supermarket jobs, 900 join army in four months and a major business scrapping its graduate recruitment scheme, times are as bad as any in living memory.

What is to be done about it?

As thousands of young people leave school and university, the chances of employment are slim to the point of anorexic.

Tesco proudly announced today that they received 1,500 applications for jobs at a Co Down branch.

Meanwhile despite the number of army deaths in Afghanistan mounting so high, the MoD hospital are weeks behind in performing autopsies on bodies returned home - and if the Talibans guns don't get you, swine flu will - recruitment is through the roof. 900 people have signed up since April.

As if the redundancies and halt of temping work with the civil service, Northern Ireland's biggest employer is not bad enough, BT had announced they will be stopping their graduate recruitment scheme.

Bleak, bleaker and bleakest however fear not because "business professionals" are feeling confident again...

Wahey, because we all have confidence in that crowd....

Bitter? Me? Pah!