The 'Winter of Discontent' was in 1978-79: exactly thirty years ago. Today as we face freezing weather, spreading wildcat strikes, the recession, a resurgent right, and an embattled Labour prime minister, it does not seem quite so long ago. We shiver in the snow, and the country grinds to a halt (snow in the winter: who would have thought it?).

In one sense, our annual national panic about levels of snowfall that Canada, Russia, or Switzerland would ignore reveals the state of the UK psyche. Predictable, cyclical events throw us into confusion and we instead believe we are in the grip of the kind of forces that sent King Lear raging across the heath.

The reality is that we are in a downturn one third of the time, and it is winter one quarter of the time. Yet just as we have the wrong kind of snow, so we have the wrong kind of downturn. Some commentators now see a depression, with a record slowdown in the US economy and every sign of green shoots snapping in the frost over here. As in the 1930s, the spectres of protectionism and nationalism lurk never far from the table.

The country is also coming to a standstill because of wildcat strikes that have spread from business to business in the old economy – energy and manufacturing. We may be a service economy today, but it will always be one rooted in the industrial revolution and we should be grateful for that, valuing our modern labour power.

At the root of these disputes are – oh happy day, alas, for dyed-in-the-twinset Thatcherites and the BNP – European workers and European regulations, which together have conspired to create an uneven playing field for homegrown personnel, in the view of striking workers across the UK. The result, says union Unite, is UK-based jobs ringfenced for European workers at knock-down rates.

This afternoon, business secretary Lord Mandelson addressed the House of Lords about the dispute at Total UK's Lindsey refinery, which resulted in a walk-out last week and triggered wildcat actions in solidarity.

He said arbitration service ACAS would rule on whether there had been fair and proper application of EU labour laws, and cited Total's claim that no laws had been broken, no discrimination against UK workers had taken place, and that wages were on a par with the UK norm. On the face of it, the Government appears to have accepted that claim.

Lord Mandelson then reinforced the Government's commitment to EU regulations and stressed the importance of the mobility of labour.

However, whatever Lord Mandelson's negotiating skills and political clout, he is a divisive figure and perhaps not best suited to fronting Whitehall's response to national unease. Unless the Government is spoiling for a fight, that is.

Whatever the truth of the matter, the perception that overseas workers are taking local jobs for less money has shaken many people's confidence here, just as it has in the US and throughout Europe.

For the outsourcing industry, this is an uncomfortable moment as we witness national outrage at jobs sourced from abroad through labour arbitrage – in this case, within our own shores. Gordon Brown's promise of 'UK jobs for UK workers' is currently spread across strikers' placards.

Rightly, Unite has said it is not opposed to foreign workers securing roles in the UK – that is central to the economy's success – only that the playing field should be level for UK workers to apply.

Of course, that must be the case, and these deals were struck in the boomtime, despite warnings about their implications in a bear economy.

Nevertheless, all companies and organisations now need to consider sourcing far more sensitively than before. Having witnessed reports myself about how the recession is good news for ambitious HR professionals who can get stuck into restructuring and redundancies, it is certainly an issue that needs to be handled with greater tact.

In the current climate any announcement about sourcing agreements struck overseas could trigger industrial action and escalating hostility. These are angry people: not just about their jobs, but also about the wider state of the economy. The Government itself needs to listen, and not see this as another industrial dispute to face down.

In politics, timing is everything, and unfortunately that has never been Mr. Brown's strong suit. We lack the galvanising optimism of Obama's refreshed US (its internal divisions notwithstanding) and instead have a Government whose own new dawn was over a decade ago.

As for 'Broon' himself – a glowering spectre at the feast in the best of times – the prime minister has now taken to smiling as the recession deepens. (Ill fortune does that to politicians, as we witnessed in the last days of Bush's presidency.)

Today, Mr Brown deployed his smile at a trade event between the UK and China, attended by Wen Jiabao. As well as having an excellent name (Question: When d'ya bow? Answer: whenever you greet him), Mr. Wen is, rather more importantly, the Chinese premier.

This morning both he and Mr. Brown smiled as they launched a new initiative called 'China Tomorrow' – a refreshing eastern twist on 'jam tomorrow', as it turned out, once our Prime Minister had apologised for being late because of the weather.

Mr. Brown took the opportunity to remind us of the often overlooked diversity in the UK economy – electrical equipment, high-tech manufacturing, the creative industries, big pharma – and promised a new era in Sino-British trade rooted in sustainable cities, partnership, a low-carbon economy, and the exchange of education, innovation and skills. No doubt outsourcing will – shhhh don't mention it, though – play a key role in that relationship.

At present, UK exports to China total £5 billion, and the prime minister promised to work towards doubling that in 18 months, the recession be damned.

An excellent initiative, no doubt, Prime Minister; the sun is certainly rising in the East. But the timing, Mr. Brown... the timing...