The car industry has come back with a vroom, announcing that car production in the UK during March was up by 90% on the same time last year, a record for any month.

It was during the early months of last year when the industry really was in the doldrums that Honda actually stopped production altogether for four months at their Swindon plant.

Now the bounce back saw a total of 117,622 cars made in March this year, representing the fifth month in a row of growth following the huge dip in production at the start of last year.

Putting the boot into shoe chain
For the second time in two years, footwear chain Faith is in trouble, and was placed into administration yesterday, threatening the jobs of 362 full-time staff and 1,382 part-time workers across their 78 stores.
Founded by Samuel Faith in 1964, the company was the target of a management buyout in September 2008 when its private equity owners put it up for auction after failing to reach an agreement with Barclays. Sadly, it looks like that rescue attempt has been doomed to failure.

Sometimes the recession seems like a sulky guest, intent on causing as much irritation as it can before finally leaving the party.

Bahn, bahn, bahn it's Deutsche Bahn
Not only is Germany the home of Kraftwerk, it's also the land of Deutsche Bahn, a massive transport operator that carries more than five million train passengers a day that is now the new owner of the UK's second biggest bus firm, Arriva.

The 100% state-owned successor to the German national railway is run for profit by its management and operates in more than 130 countries, owning the company which runs the Queen's Royal Train and running services like the Chiltern Railways route between London and Birmingham Snow Hill.

The takeover hasn't come cheap with the deal worth £1.59 billion but it will see the combined business becoming Europe's largest carrier with 10 million passengers a day.

Still, it's bye-bye to another Brit business. Oh, well.