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Right across the public sector there are tough budget decisions being made. Some will make more noise than others but how do you give a voice to ordinairy people alongside the voice of a powerful lobby?
In November, Newcastle City Council launched a consultation on its 2013-16 budget.
Like other local authorities across England we found ourselves faced with some awful choices to balance the books.
This is a great time to be in communications, a brilliant time to be doing the jobs we do.
I'll explain why in a minute, but before I go on I don't want to downplay what a tough time many of us have been through.
In hard times, communications is often the first thing to go, viewed as an expensive luxury next to the real job of providing vital services to vulnerable people.
That means many of us have seen our jobs under threat, our roles reviewed and our working practices change. Before I did this job at Newcastle, I was on a temporary contract which sometimes rolled over month-by-month, so I know all about uncertainty.
