Euro Slide

As Ireland grapples with a political crisis as well as what is currently a banking crisis with a vengeance, triggering a request for Euro aid, the currency slide goes on and the pressure on Spain and Portugal mounts. There is a touch of gloating in Britain, especially on the Right, that we are not embroiled because we are not in the Euro and our banks are not as toxic. True for the first and maybe for the second.

But, but it is not as straightforward as that. This crisis is not fundamentally about the Euro, although the weakness of the idea of a currency without a government is being fully exposed. This is a crisis about debt, the size of it and whether it can ever be repaid. If the contagion spreads, we may not have the immunity we imagine. Moreover a falling Euro makes our exports in our primary market, Europe, more expensive and hots up competition from Europe in our new and developing markets in Asia and South America.

All in all the portents are sobering. This is no moment to gloat. It is time to reflect and prepare.