The Prime Minister has recorded a podcast on 14 November 2009, ahead of the Queen’s Speech on Wednesday.
One year ago there were stark predictions on the likely levels of unemployment, repossessions and company insolvencies.
There was a real fear that we might be facing not just a recession, but a depression on a scale not seen since the 1930s.
But I believe we can now begin to see that our determination to make a difference means the worst of these gloomy predictions have not materialised.
If the experience of the 1990s recession had been repeated employment would be 1.7 million lower and this week the mortgage lenders reported that the rate of repossessions, mortgage arrears and negative equity is half that of the 1990s.
Next week we will be outlining our legislation for the next parliamentary session - a programme that’s in line with our core values of fairness and responsibility.
Our focus, as ever, is the return to economic growth and forging a stronger, fairer, Britain - for the many not the few.
We will reduce government borrowing in a fair and responsible way and take forward our strategy for growth, with targeted investment that creates jobs and builds a modern green infrastructure for the digital age.
And we will ensure that the banking crisis we have experienced over the last two years should never again come at a cost to the taxpayer.
This means a transformation of the way the financial sector is policed, with banks themselves and not the taxpayer made to pay for bank failings.
And this also means empowering consumers to hold banks to account by taking collective action to get redress when many people feel that they have been badly treated.
And we will ban credit card companies from encouraging you to borrow more than you can realistically afford to repay by sending you credit card cheques you haven’t asked for.
We must also restore confidence in our democratic institutions. And a better Britain means world class public services underpinned by guarantees not gambles.
So we are moving to a system where patients, parents and local communities have enforceable rights over the services they receive - and front line staff have more freedom to shape the service they give.
On crime, a better Britain means new ways to tackle the anti-social behaviour I know still blights some estates and neighbourhoods.
And on health, a better Britain means the dignity of a new national care service: free personal care in your own homes for those with the highest need.
We will also ensure a better world by extending Britain’s influence as a global force for good. Fulfilling our responsibilities means we must remain at the heart of Europe and a leading member of the wider international community.
And a safer Britain means continuing to tackle the terrorist threat at source - in the borderlands of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
This is a difficult period for our country. But Britain has a bright future. One I’m optimistic about and which I believe can be one not of austerity, but progress, and one where all the people of Britain move forward together.