Saturday 19th May

With all the confusion surrounding the present Euro crisis, banks being downgraded daily, Greece as chaotic as ever, David Cameron turning on and off the euro-sceptic tap depending on who he thinks he is talking to, is it any wonder that it seems that no-one has any idea what is actually happening or more importantly where we are headed.  We are in unchartered waters to some degree, but one is reminded of the words of Alistair Darling almost four years ago when he said that the fiscal crisis of 2008, which he was caught in the middle of, was the worst shock to the world financial system since the 1930s.  Actually he was wrong, it is probably worse than that.   What caused the crisis is one story, and in a way it almost doesn’t matter – we are where we are and no amount of analysis of previous errors will tell us what to do now.

The G8, one of many many talking shops is meeting in America over this weekend and share prices are tumbling.  I believe we are at a turning point, or rather a crossroads.  Going straight ahead will be driving blind into the oncoming storm of a euro-zone break-up.  To the right there is the road of continuing austerity, which many believe has made the problems of countries like Greece, Spain and Portugal far worse.  To the left is a possible new injection of money from, well to be frank, no-one really knows, to drag the euro-zone back into growth.  The car is in danger of stalling and being swept away.  And maybe, just maybe we are on the brink of something even more momentous; the possible creation of a new state, a real political and financial union with unified taxes and spending plans encompassing France, Germany, Denmark and the Low Countries.   We are also maybe on the verge of a revolution, but one in which barricades and guns will be absent.  There may emerge out of all this mess a revolution in the way we, the public, monitor and relate to politicians, and the way those politicians regulate and control banks and the financial sector, which since 1984 and the Big Bang has run amok, with the acquiescent nods of government – as long as they were making money nobody cared exactly how they did it.  Interesting times.