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.
