The sky is apparently falling on the UK economy. On August 30, The Guardian printed an interview with Alistair Darling, chancellor of the exchequer. It reported him as saying that “the economic times we are facing ‘are arguably the worst they’ve been in 60 years ... And I think it’s going to be more profound and long-lasting than people thought”. So how bad might it all turn out?

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development suggested this week that the UK, alone among the group of seven leading high-income countries, was likely to experience negative growth in the third and final quarters of this year. If so, this would end a run of 64 consecutive quarters of positive growth. For Gordon Brown, the return of boom and bust has to be an embarrassment. Yet did anybody else believe the business cycle could be eliminated? Market economies are never as stable as that.