Spain’s socialist leaders, shocked by rising unemployment that yesterday reached nearly 14 per cent of the workforce, stirred controversy this week by flirting with economic nationalism and calling on Spaniards to adopt patriotic shopping habits to beat the recession.

Miguel Sebastián, industry minister and possible future finance minister, surprised economic liberals by quoting the soaring rhetoric of John F. Kennedy (“Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country”) in support of the mundane task of buying Spanish clothes and skiing holidays.