May you live in interesting times......

Just so people don't get the idea that it is only in the UK that politics is being effected by the mother of all all recessions. In Ireland the government has just unveiled an emergency budget that will cut the pay of public servants by 7% and cut spending on social services and international development, commentators believe Brian Cowens government to be on its last legs. In Iceland the government collapsed last week and in came Europe's first openly lesbian head of government, but she may soon find herself deep in electoral trouble as the far left Green-Left alliance now heads the polls. In Latvia the Minister for Agriculture has just resigned after mass street protests after protests by farmers. In Germany Deutsche Bank has posted its first annual loss since WWII.

I find a little perspective helps.

It the big R

So i suppose we had better get used to the fact that the UK is entering a recession. I can hardly remember the last one, but what i can remember is the high street of the small town I grew up in losing almost all of its shops. I can recall there only being a butchers, a newsagents and a chemists. Today there are dozens of shops many of the them catering to a wealthy clientele. There is even a cheese shop in which Rory Bremner has been spotted. I fear for that cheese shop.