State of Play

We are at a very delicate stage in the negotiations to save the world as we know it. On the one hand, there is the entirely legitimate concern to shore up the economy and to avoid bread queues, mass unemployment, meltdown, etc. These are very real concerns and don't count on me to downplay them. The situation is far too serious for the sort of flippancy in which this blog trades.
On the other hand, these abortive bailouts are extremely exciting and it would nice if they could go on a bit longer. We realise that the age of austerity will soon be upon us, but perhaps there's time for one last fling?

On a slightly more serious note: given the constant stream of calamitous news, how are we to know when something is REALLY serious? Very simple. it's when the BBC World Service changes its programming schedule.