Tesco has come under the firing line again in recent days for its role in the new government work experience scheme.

Under the scheme, which is supposed to encourage unemployed youngsters into work, young people are given unpaid work experience in exchange for their Jobseeker's Allowance and expenses.

They are expected to work 30 hours and week for eight weeks, after which - once they have proved their mettle - they can be interviewed for a permanent job.

Anyone that drops out after the first week could have their benefits withdrawn.

Critics are branding it slave labour and protests are springing up everywhere.

But in this age of austerity and with more young people out of work than ever before facing nothing but misery, surely this is better than nothing?

We all know how popular apprentice schemes are becoming once again, with channel take-up growing by the week.

The youngsters involved are still learning valuable skills, and for eight weeks, anything that gives them a decent chance at getting their foot on the employment ladder is surely to be welcomed?

Isn't it?

What is the alternative?

Backers of the scheme have branded the critics 'job snobs', saying youngsters can't just sit around waiting for their dream job to land in their laps, and they are blaming reality shows like the X-factor for raising people's career hopes too high.

If we are having a go at 'reality' shows - I do agree that this obession with being famous and actually having no skills has gone to far. There was a time when hard work was the only thing that guaranteed success, not appearing on some vacuous TV programme and turning into some z-list nobody attending the opening of an envelope.

I really think it is time for more businesses to get more involved in schools and educate these kids on what the real world of work is like, rather than allowing them to fill their heads with dreams of stardom and role models based on plastic airheads with zero talent and brains to match.

I'll put my claws away now.

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on this.

Inflation is falling according to the latest consumer price index (CPI) figures.

The rate fell to 3.6 per cent on an annual basis in January from 4.2 per cent in December.

But I have to say I'm amused by the headlines on some of the national news website - screaming that 'pressure is easing' on consumers etc and 'prices are falling'. 

Really? I beg to differ.

The Bank of England continues to pursue its quantitative easing programme which I'm sure is not really helping anyone in the long run. It certainly isn't encouraging anyone to save.

And as for prices going down - fuel in my region has gone up three pence a litre since the start of January and food seems to be increasing on a weekly basis.

Domestic fuel prices have gone through the roof, and council tax is on the up as well.

Rail fares have certainly made the most of inflation and the cost of a season ticket truly is eye-watering.

With wages showing no signs of matching these ridiculous price increases, I really don't see how this is good news at all.

When my weekly living expenses really do show signs of saving me money - I'll let you know.

In the meantime, I'll keep praying for that Lotto win!

Yesterday saw CRN unveil our first new venture of 2012 - the CRN Sales and Marketing Awards.

Due to take place in Central London on 21 June - the awards are a chance for resellers, vendors and distributors to celebrate the success of individuals and teams within their organisations, and shout about how brilliant they are.

In such tough economic times and surrounded by doom and gloom - we need something to lift our spirits, and what better way than a swanky summer party?

The categories have been picked after close consultation with a selection of leading figures from the industry and we think they will make for some interesting and inspiring entries.

I would love to know what you all think of our latest launch and whether you will be entering.

Please do get in touch either via email or Twitter @Yirrelli.

Best of luck with your entries and find out more about the categories and the awards by clicking here.

I must admit I have been pretty guilty in the past of seeing disaster recovery press releases and almost rolling my eyes.

Well they are ten a penny I have to say in my defence.

But you may have seen that Incisive's Broadwick Street offices have been hit by a massive power outage and we actually have no firm idea when things are going to be fully up and running again.

The office had no running water, no toilets and no heating - not ideal in these temperatures to be honest.

Luckily we managed to get Monday's issue of CRN sent yesterday before the real problems started - but it was certainly cutting it fine.

Now the CRN editorial team are scattered around various parts of London and the south/midlands - working from home. But to make matters worse our email server is down at the moment as well.

Thank God for Twitter!

I'm sure it will all be up and running again soon, but it certainly made us all think about how we would cope if this became a more permanent occurance. Plus we have the disruption of the Olympics to look forward to in the Summer.

Bear with us! If you have any news please Tweet us for the time being and hopefully email will be up and running again soon.

I may have moaned about having to go into the office in dark and dreary January - but having to work remotely has also made me realise that I will take my daily commute any day to being stuck in an office on my own.

The last three months of 2011 saw the economy shrink for the first time in a year according to the latest UK GDP figures.

That means we are one quarter away from officially being in recession.

Our national debt reached £1tn for the first time as well - I dread to think of the interest payments on that.

Everything seems nationally to be in a right mess and I'm confused by all the policies coming out of Westminster if I'm honest.

What exactly are they hoping to achieve? Nothing seems to flow together or appear to always be thought out.

If it is keeping everyone in a constant state of misery and worry - then they have definitely succeeded.

But at least the electricity bills have fallen a bit - phew!

If like us at CRN you are frantically concentrating on innovating your way out of this mess then I think you just might make it.

Those of us that just sit on our backsides and wait for the inevitable may well not be here this time next year.

Staying positive is the only way to get through this depressing period in the economy and shouting about your success is the best way to keep morale high.

There has to be a lot of success around in the different macro-economies that make up the general economy.

I definitely want to hear more about it.

I'm sick and tired of constant doom and gloom.

In the good old early days of the tech industry things moved at a much slower pace and there was actually breathing room to develop things slowly, many start ups prospered.

But nowadays you can almost blink and miss the latest technology launch, which seems to happen so frequently that by the time you make a purchase of say, a laptop, camera, games console - it is already out of date.

Intensely frustrating, but true.

This is why the news that Kodak has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy is such a shame, because rather than go with the flow and keep charging ahead to stay in front of the competition, the firm seemed almost to stagnate and watch its competitors fly past, eating up its market share.

There was a point when Kodak completely dominated the photographic market - remember the 'good' old days of a camera with a roll of film? My family never used anything else, and we have boxes of Kodak-branded negatives and snaps about the place.

But the digital era seemed to get the better of it and a once great giant was left as a shadow of its former self.

This was a firm that had the world at its feet (if it had feet) but lost the lead whether through complacency or something else.

It is a lesson to us all really. No matter how big you are and how far ahead you are in the market, if you don't keep innovating and reinventing yourself and keeping an eye on your competitors, someone will sneak up behind you and push you out.

And before you know it, you are the bottom of a very big pile.

I hope the company manages to sort itself out. The world of photography would be a sadder place without Kodak.

I'm a little tempted to say 'put another record on' when it comes to national media reports about the economy - the amount of doom and gloom out there is extremely depressing.

We get sent reports from about the state of the economy every day - with one saying that we are indeed hovering over the precipice of recession, and another saying that we are actually IN recession once more.

And of course every day there is an update on the Eurozone crisis with France losing its AAA status last week and other countries set to follow suit soon.

What I am noticing though is that hardly any of these stories are balanced with any really positive economic news - there has to be SOME out there surely?

Oh I tell a lie - M&S sold quite a lot of food at Christmas. Which is nice.

I know we cover negative news here on ChannelWeb - but unlike our cousins in the national press we are not afraid to publish positive stuff as well.

So this is a call to action - if you have some positive news - please share it with us! I would like to write a few more positive stories this week or mention positive news on Twitter.

I must apologise for the number of begging tweets and blogs I'm going to do - but anyone who knows me will know I'm not the sportiest looking person in the world, and after struggling round the London Marathon course back in 2002, vowed never to run again.

Well, I am. And I think I must be mad.

I have Susanne Dansey from Purple Cow Ideas Management to thank for this - but despite the pain I am putting myself through, it is going to be worth it.

I am doing it for a reason - I won't bang on about it here - but if you visit my Justgiving page you will see why. It is a very good cause and one that sadly will impact a lot of lives.

If anyone can spare any sum, however small - I will be eternally grateful and will thank you every step of the way on 11 March.

Some have donated already - and I send you a huge thank you for your generosity. It really means a lot.