As a wise man once said, there's nothing quite as wonderful as money.

The pound's drop against the Euro is being painted as a disaster for the UK economy. Today it reached a record low and as I'm typing this a pound will get you 1.12. Euros. That's terrible news for anyone off for Christmas shopping in Paris, but for anyone off shopping for kitchens, bedrooms or bathrooms could it actually be good news?

Well, perhaps. From a longer term retail point of view maybe that trip to the US or Europe doesn't look quite so appealing anymore and maybe they will do the kitchen/bathroom/bedroom instead like they've been meaning to.

Ok, so that's clutching at straws I know - there's so many massive price fluctuations going on at the moment across all retail that any single digit percentage changes are virtually unnoticeable. For example, I bought a pair of warm hiking socks at lunchtime (don't ask) that had 30% off - it wasn't til I checked the receipt when I got back to work that I realised they hadn't included the 2.5% drop in VAT.

No, the real benefit of parity between the Euro and the pound is in manufacturing  - a long term benefit I know, but we're all looking for positives at the moment. With currencies on an equal footing then that factory in Poland doesn't look quite as appealing over that factory in the UK any more.

The strength of the pound has been a major factor in the closure of many mass production factories in the UK. They simply couldn't export to other countries and as major manufacturers are increasingly global then China or Eastern Europe were much more viable. The factories that are still here are forced to concentrate on small production runs of niche products - which is fine, but it hardly keeps an economy ticking over.

But now, with economic parity, the desire to make in things in the UK not just for the domestic market but beyond is a little bit more attractive. There are still plenty of other reasons not to do it - labour costs, transport issues, legislative red tape - but at least the currency one has been ticked off. Plus, of course, products imported into the UK suddenly become much more expensive

If nothing else, you can't accuse me of always looking for the negative story....

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