91Èȱ¬

The situation in the Irish Republic is critical: the country is on the brink of being forced to accept a $110bn bail-out from the EU, as much as it doesn't want to.

Meanwhile the Eurozone - the group of countries that have the single European currency - is facing a "survival crisis." One Dublin headline puts it starkly: "48 hours to save the Euro."

Elsewhere, Japan's lower house of parliament has passed a bill injecting a $62bn stimulus into the country's economy.

In France there were days of continual strikes as the government - successfully - raised the retirement age to 62. In the UK, a raft of cuts has been announced with 490,000 public sector jobs to close.

Clearly, the global financial crisis is biting. The phrased being used by the government in the UK is "we're all in this together." Does that apply around the world?

I remember three years ago as the credit crunch first began to hit the banks and financial institutions, and the efforts of experts like the 91Èȱ¬'s Robert Peston to explain how what was happening on Wall Street or the City would ultimately have a direct impact on us all.

And now it is.

So how have you been affected by the recession? What personal impact - if any - has the global financial crisis had on your job, your family and your life?