We must be gullible to keep listening to these scares...

Five years ago, I was wondering how our Indian summer of prosperity would end.

We had been basking in the long Edwardian glow of low prices, cheap labour, domestic servants, prosperity and growth. It didn't actually occur to any of us at the time that a credit crunch would do the trick; a collapse of confidence in our debt-repaying abilities. That was beyond imagining. No, it was going to be something more obvious.

War was the most likely, if you listened to those who relied on historical cycles. In 1714 the western world had fought itself to a standstill. Add in 1814 and 1914, and there were the grounds for a Nostradamus-style paranoia. What would be our equivalent of World War One? More...

See also:

1. More fear-mongering, this time from Prince Charles...
2. Keeping us in a state of perpetual fear...
3. Fear of this, fear of that, fear of everything...
4. Bobby Mcferrin - Don't Worry, Be Happy...