We've been here before....

And so the party's over. The bubble has burst. Thousands of people have seen their life savings wiped out in the worst economic crash in living memory. Payments to bankers continue while ordinary people lose everything. Scotland faces fiscal chaos as the banking system threatens to collapse.

Just when a national disaster seems inevitable, the English government steps in to help with a massive injection of cash - but at a price; Scotland must lose its Parliament and all future government is to be based in Westminster. It will be nearly 40 years before confidence is fully restored in Scottish banking.

A bleak forecast for our future? No, dear reader, the year is 1707 and Scotland is reeling from the collapse of the Darien Adventure. Perhaps instead of maths and physics graduates (now leaving in droves to enter the lions' den of teaching) the city should have been recruiting historians.