Spanish banks are now recognised to be broke. If we are candid, so too are the UK’s banks. Tim Bush at PIRC reckons their undisclosed losses are between £40bn and £80bn, and knowing Tim as I do I am sure he is right. Portugal is bailing out banks.

The Irish have voted to accept austerity, a loss of sovereignty, the exodus of their young and the loss of hope which has always been such a part of their national narrative.

And still those in power don’t get it. Merkel insists against all logic that all Europe can be like Germany. Osborne demands that we have austerity even though it has obviously failed to deliver growth and jobs. The bankers demand investment from the government and cuts in spending, all at the same time. The incoherence is palpable.

And throughout it all things just get worse. As self interest is the dominant and prevailing sentiment (indeed, some would argue, the only acceptable logic in economic theory; although that’s wrong) Germany with the capacity to pay for its mistakes (and it was its mistake to lend to the indebted nations and its mistake to not require the Euro area to clear its debts) is refusing to accept its duty to bear the cost of those mistakes. And its similar refusal to allow the creation of new money has much the same effect: its phobia about inflation is demanding in its place the sacrifice of nationhood and democracy to that paranoia. We’ve been here before. And what is sickening is that there are alternatives.