Up and slipped.

Small peasants without capital were trapped in a vicious cycle of debt.

But, in the country as a whole, government is collapsing. Whole areas are now beyond its control, public services are unavailable, and the economy is in free fall.

As in the meltdown of the 1970 s, it is easy to see how everyone benefited from the recent boom homeowners saw their houses rising in price, social welfare payments were expanded, and people seemed swept up in a new wave of 1960 s style Cool Britannia.