THE sight of shoppers queuing for hours in the hunt for a bargain is as much a post-Christmas tradition as the turkey sandwich.

Some consider these hardy bargain hunters to be off their shopping trolleys for embarking on another buying spree so soon after the festival of consumerism. But this year, even the most shopped-out cynic should welcome the sight.

Some analysts had made dire predictions. The free-spending shopper was in danger of becoming extinct, they said. After the horrors of September 11, everyone would batten down their purses. The global downturn would become a fully-fledged recession.

At first it looked as if they were right. Many retailers suffered a bad couple of months after the atrocities.

But in the crucial period, the run-up to Christmas, people returned to the High Street in force. Department store John Lewis enjoyed a record week at the start of December. Tesco boasted more orders than ever over the Internet.

And this trend has continued. In York and around the country, queues of sales-hungry shoppers have formed outside the big stores.

Quite what has provoked this response is unclear. Perhaps people wanted to put this dreadful year behind them with a Christmas to remember. Perhaps fears of a recession have been exaggerated.

Whatever the reason, we should be grateful. What to some might seem a distasteful consumer frenzy in the wake of so much human suffering is crucial to keeping our economy afloat. Without it, jobs will be lost and Britain would plunge into a deep slump.

Now, economists' eyes will turn to the fortunes of the travel agents. Airlines have already been hit by an American reluctance to fly. This should be the busiest time of year for the holiday business: are Britons still willing to book a break?

Hopefully, yes. Immediately after September 11, the world was unsure how safe it was to travel. Since then, we have witnessed only one more attempted terrorist attack on a plane. The threat is still there, but it appears to have diminished significantly.

Updated: 10:23 Thursday, December 27, 2001