......"Whenever I opened the paper I saw that my pitiful little holdings in various industrial shares had slid still further down the slope. Everything seemed to be cracking up. England was unutterably weary, America was in the throes of a nervous breakdown, Germany had consumption, Italy was suffering from delusions of grandeur, Spain was about to be sick, Russia had the delirium tremens, and France had an acute attack of hysteria following indigestion. The world seemed vulgar, irrational and dangerous."......

An extract from DOWN THE GARDEN PATH by Beverley Nichols, - May 1932

LOL and very apt for today's similar situation. sustainable self sufficiency never looked more attractive than it does now!

Perhaps more appropriate to tell the Greeks!

βιώσιμη αυτάρκεια ποτέ δεν έδειχνε πιο ελκυστική από ό, τι τώρα!

A true example of "what goes round, comes round".

It's the excuse I use for not clearing very old clothes out of my wardrobe. One day they will either come back into fashion, or even more unlikely, I will lose enough weight to be able to wear them again.

I agree, it's all wearily familiar and however much the Greeks & French have voted for change, spending more than you earn, as a country or an individual, has never seemed to be a long term recipe for prosperity.

Alan, I'm well aware of the situation over there. We have no reason for complacency though, our economy is not growing and our debts are high, admittedly not as high as theirs.

Hi NB

Perhaps you could give us some examples of sustainable self sufficiency and how it would work in our present economic situation. It's not something I know anything about.

What worries me more about Greece is the spectre of Fascism arising just as it was doing in the 1930s in Italy and Germany when Beverley Nichols was writing. It was distressing on TV yesterday to see the pompous fat figure of Nikolaos Michaloliakos shouting "Those who have betrayed the homeland must now be afraid" and "Out of my country, out of my home! How will we do it? Use your imagination". I can hear the blackshirts and the brownshirts all over again.