I believe that we now live in a very inter-connected world and that none of us should be pleased to see other economies fail as if an economic bloc fails it affects us all indirectly.

There is no point in creating wealth if nobody can afford to consume it and in that respect a good percentage of the world population are in this mess together; Britain may be an island but unless Britain can go back to producing all its own food and be self-relaint on energy then it cannot afford to be isolated if Britain wishes to prosper.

Is the answer different in purely political terms?

Yes, but only if you are interested in power plays as far as wishing to dominate other countries or fearful of other countries attempting to dominate you - and this is the fear (genuine or otherwise) that many in the UK latch onto.

If the EU had not been created would the UK have been better off? Who knows?

Maybe our Commonwealth trading partners would have wanted to buy more British cars when we'd bought more of their agricultural goods.

Politically? Again, I don't know but without the EU there is the possibility that Europe would have been less stable and we might have had at least one more war between western european countries since WW2.

Is the existence of the single currency relevant? Yes, even the USA is concerned about the situation and you'd think it would effect us more than the USA.

What should we be hoping for? An end to the present uncertainty, but this will take time either way - the eurozone could not be broken up overnight even if it wanted to and if kept the solution cannot be found overnight either as it shall need treaty changes and these things take time.

Let's hope that we are not in the same situation of total uncertainty this time next year.

Clive B

At least I think we agree that it needs to be sorted out quickly, but I'd say that would be impossible due to the fact that there has to be an element of democracy and you can't make treaty changes without at least pretending to go through the democratic process.

There isn't even a 'let out' clause for countries to leave the eurozone; the only method is to leave the EU altogether (no bad thing you might say for some countries).

How democratic are we?

Apart from the freedom to complain re. freedom of speech very few citizens seem to have much say in the decision making process and there is certainly very little feeling of 'being involved'.

It's sad to say that many of us don't even vote in elections; is it apathy or a genuine feeling of hopelessness?

Some democracies (e.g. Australia) make it a legal obligation to vote; when so many millions died to leave us the gift of democracy it's strange that we don't appreciate it.

The tide of regulations coming from 'Brussels' aren't all evil and designed to enslave us - many people will have enjoyed better and safer working conditions and products as a result but then 'maybe' conditions were worse or better 'over there' than 'over here'.

I'm not in favour of over-regulation but then it's probably impossible to legislate for 'common sense' and UK law has a far more sensible legal base (common law, statutory law and case law) than continental (mainly Roman) law.

I used to joke that the EU was going to phase in driving on the right side of the road (lorries and buses first, before cars) but maybe one should write a list of all the good and bad things the EU have brought before just claiming its a dictatorship and nothing else.

One solution MIGHT be the introduction of dual currencies; the euro PLUS a local currency where EU debt was switched to the local currency at a fixed rate of exchange and would be then worth less in euro if the country devalued its existing currency BUT

Any NEW debt in euro would then be at a lower rate but cost more if the country devalued its own currency or at a higher interest rate if made in the new weaker currency where investors would want a greater return if the currency was weaker. The new euro debt could be issued by the ECB and only on the condition that the economic rules re. Maastricht were applied; if they failed the conditions the country would have to borrow its own currency at market rates.

Oh well, I'm not an economist but I feel that the only solution will involve some debt forgiveness FOR ALL OF US if the present crisis isn't going to continue indefinitely.

Bombardier is, I believe, a Canadian company that makes both railstock and small aeroplanes.

"Bombardier is headquartered in Montréal, Canada, and its shares (BBD) are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange. In the fiscal year ended January 31, 2011, we posted revenues of $17.7 billion US."

There bonds have done rather well, but are too expensive for me to buy right now even though they came down in price recently;

the 6.125% 2021 costs about 95.12 to buy

the 7.25% 2016 is over par and costs about 104.28 to buy

A good CANADIAN company - not British!

Graham Barlow

My apologies re. Bombardier; of course a foreign company giving jobs to Brits aka Ford is better than the jobs going away (unless, of course, the trains are being made cheaper and better elsewhere like almost everything else).

I believe your unfettered optimism re. the break up of the EU is unfounded and that this time next year we'll see the eurozone still alive and kicking with some treaty alterations to ensure countries can't borrow what they can't afford.

You could, however, be right and an orderly break up shall indeed have to be engineered in which case life shall still continue but with less influence from Germany.

Re. fundamentally flawed; isn't the whole system (including both the UK and USA) flawed when built on ever increasing debt ad infinitum?

I'd like the eurozone to survive as it suits me very nicely even though it's obviously in a mess and hadn't been properly thought through from conception.