LONDON -- There was nothing unusual about this Christmas. Well, snow fell, which hasn't happened for years and it was hard traveling; but Britain's transport woes -- not enough trains or buses, too many cars -- began months ago. Passengers at one airport did riot after waiting four days for a plane, any plane, to take off (the company had run out of de-freezer for its fleet), but that sort of protest is now quite the thing to do.

Christmas sales were up, but there is nothing unusual in that. Nothing unusual in the crowd psychology of "must have, buy now" even if it involves (as it does) trampling someone who's done you no harm.

No, all is as usual, and Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown might be biting the shreds of his finger nails (which are usually bitten down to the quick) about this normal frenzy of "must have, buy now." The more we buy, the less we save and rumors of the impending end of the booming economy in the United States are heightening every ill economic omen. The ratio of savings to spending is going down, there is a shortage of credit, which means inflation -- or is it deflation if the U.S. economy ends its boom? The "worst year in a decade" for stock markets has just been announced, which included figures for Britain's stock market, which was down 10 percent from last year.