Happy days are here again - or are they?

"Happy days are here again The skies above are clear again So let's sing a song of cheer again Happy days are here again."

THIS could have been the theme song of the recent annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank in Washington where officials went out of their way to project optimism.

It was rather like being back in 1929 when song writer Milton Ager's catchy little tune had everyone fox-trotting around the dance floors of New York, and no one seemed to have a care in the world. But then came the great Wall Street crash in the same year, followed by the Great Depression.

That was a long time ago - 88 years ago to be precise - and of course things are different now. Or are they? There seemed to be odd echoes of 1929 at the Washington meetings as t…