Harriet Harman writes:
We want to protect families from the credit crunch with real help. And we want to hear what Mumsnet are concerned about during this recession; what you want us to be doing about it; and what you want to see changed for the future. Prime Minister Gordon Brown is hosting an international Economic Summit in London (which President Obama will be coming to) in April to agree with other countries how we work together to get the global economy back on its feet and growing again. I want to hear from you and feed your views in to this summit.

Opinion polls tell us that women are more concerned about the impact of the recession than men, is that your view?
Is the recession affecting your family life and if so how?
Are you getting the advice and information you need if you ask for help?
What do you want to see government doing to help with that?
What do you think about bonuses?
How can we help women who want to start their own businesses?

I don't know the answer to any of the questions but can you tell her I think she's right to raise the issue of lapdancing being an issue of sexism in the workplace?
Seriously.

And I think bonuses are great as long as they are for me.

Bump (while I think about it!)

I think the Government should close all the banks down and open credit unions in each city/town instead which are all government owned without shareholders or big bosses.

Screw our views, I wanna go!

Is the recession affecting your family life and if so how?
Yes - we are only spending what we need and are both worried about our jobs so we're pretty narky with one another atm.
Are you getting the advice and information you need if you ask for help?
I haven't asked for help so can't answer this for you.
What do you want to see government doing to help with that?
Couldn't you do some sort of public info broadcast or website suggesting practical ways of accomodating the economic downturn at family level?
What do you think about bonuses?
They should be waived - it is a hideous disgrace that banks are even contemplating bonuses at this time, and makes a mockery of those who are suffering financially.
How can we help women who want to start their own businesses?
Funding, free business advice, interest free loans or tart-up grants, subsidised child care to allow women time to do this. Child care is a real issue for many women with young children, and lots end up having to accept that they will lose money on childcare while their children are young.

I guess being a dad counts me out then?

tart-up grants?

I'd have nothing to worry about if they introduced those!

The only direct way that it's affected us at the moment is fear. Fear that dh might lose his job (financial sector) and fear that there might be a backlash against public sector spending and I might lose mine (NHS, non-frontline staff).

We're needing to move though and may well struggle to get a mortgage and struggle to sell our flat. I worry about that too.

I don't know what anyone can do really.

My gut feeling about bonuses is that it is wrong for them to be paid out by companies which would have gone bust if not for public money. I should imagine I'd feel differently though if I, or dh, was due one and I had worked hard and met my targets. The whole mess is not the fault of the majority of workers in these companies.