I think Scroggs is bang on. For those of you starting out, your best option is to keep the day job and try and do at least one lesson a week. Try and spread your training out instead of forking out for an integrated course.
As for me, I'm just finishing up my PPL and am going to do my ATPL's through one of the Distance Learing courses (probably Bristol) while still doing the odd bit of hour building at the weekend. That should take about 9-12 months, by which time the aviation world will hopefully be a bit more stable.