The new age of seriousness has taken off its hair shirt and poured a cocktail. Manchester United’s acceptance of a record £80m for Cristiano Ronaldo’s transfer to Real Madrid signifies austerity chic may be dead. Ronaldo, resplendent in tight white shorts and with a flamboyant predilection for pink flowers tucked behind his beautifully bronzed ear, was never really one to toe the fashion line, but still.

Since the financial crisis unleashed a chain reaction of crashes and collapses, commentators have clamoured to say the world will never be the same. Last year a new era of seriousness was augured – no longer, went the argument, would we be enthralled with the froth of celebrity nonsense or mesmerised by the sparkle of diamond-studded wallets. John Lanchester, whose book Whoops, How Capitalism Broke Itself is due out next year, wrote in the London Review of Books in October that our Cityphilia (love of money-making) had been replaced by Cityphobia.