Recession on the way.

The papers return to a subject that has not graced our front pages for some time this morning.Are we heading for a recession.

The Telegraph kicks off with an interview with Alistair Darling in which he

launches an attack on banks for lending too freely and allowing consumer debt to spiral to record levels.

And the paper adds

His remarks will be seen as a watershed, marking the end of the credit boom that has characterised most of Labour's decade in office.

Its leader saying

The country now has a consumer debt mountain of £1.3 trillion. As this newspaper has warned, with a global credit crunch making its malign presence felt, that leaves a lot of people extremely exposed, as money gets more expensive.

The Independent has FIRST THE CREDIT CRUNCH NOW THE SPENDING SQUEEZE on its front page with its leading article saying

Have we reached the moment when the contagion in the rarefied world of the credit markets finally begins to infect the real economy? This week two well-known fashion retailers, French Connection and Next, warned that trading conditions are likely to become a lot more difficult in the coming months. And yesterday, Home Retail Group, the owner of Homebase and Argos, sounded a similarly downbeat note. Expectations are being played down before the all-important Christmas selling season.

And the Mail headlines

'We can't control mortgage rates', Bank of England chief warns homeowners

Homeowners were warned to brace themselves for higher mortgage rates yesterday.
Bank of England governor Mervyn King said the cost of borrowing was likely to rise whatever the Bank did with official base rates.
It was effectively an admission that mortgage rates are out of the Bank's control as a result of the crisis in the world's financial markets.