Greatest time to be alive – even if the world’s going crazy

franchisement. It is, however, one of the greatest times to be alive. We are living longer than our ancestors, and according to the World Bank, more people have been lifted out of extreme poverty than ever before.

Of course, even one person living in extreme poverty is one too many but progress is being made.

As a country we are enjoying the highest levels of employment we have ever seen and wage growth has returned alleviating stresses on household budgets.

We should not forget that the renaissance of the West Midlands, which is so often spoken about, is alive and kicking and business confidence, as reported in the Chamber's latest quarterly business report, is still high.

We continue to have the highest levels of start-ups, for the fifth year running, outside of London.

We have the youngest city in Europe and as a soon-to-be ethnic-majority city, I am sure our diversity will be one of our greatest strengths in decades to come.

We still have many challenges, however. Global factors such as the trade war between China and the US will adversely affect our international-focused businesses such as JLR. Greater automation and calls for productivity mean we must make sure our workers are able to compete in an ever-changing environment.

As we approach the end-game for Brexit, one can't help but feel that there has been a significant ramping up of doomsday predictions ranging from medicine shortages to empty shelves in supermarkets.

For me, I am still convinced, that if delivered the right way, reshaping our partnership with our European friends will lead to greater opportunities for us as a region. I believe history will look back on the “worst-case” scenarios like we now look at the millennium bug, with mild amusement. Despite these prophecies of doom, our businesses in the West Midlands continue to be cautiously resilient.

In the last few weeks alone we have had commitments for greater investment from the likes of Netflix, £500 million committed to transforming Birmingham International Airport and renewed investment by the government into our ailing high streets with our Mayor hoping to use some of that ‘John Lewis' magic to lead a revival in our town centres.

HS2 is still a driver for investment decisions and the HS2 college is churning out the engineers of tomorrow.

Take it from me, none of this is coincidence, or by mistake. It is the spirit of collaboration amongst our politicians, our business-people and our Mayor which has led to a unified, coherent and cohesive approach to building a better region. Long may it continue.

And if you do turn on the news and start to get worried, my advice is this: Keep calm and carry on.

Saqib Bhatti is president of Greater Birmingham Chambers of

Commerce