Snow had fallen intermittently since October, the sky was a dull aluminium, and the television news reporting flash floods, toddlers being swept away and pensioners paddled to safety. We had talked about SAD, the credit crunch, the rise in unemployment and the possibility of increased social tension.‘All I’m saying is, it’s not surprising if foreign firms operating here fly in foreign labour when there are piles of job-seekers at home.’‘And all I’m saying is, there are more Brits working in Europe than Europeans working here.’‘Did you see that Italian worker giving the finger to photographers?’‘Yes, I’m all for importing foreign labour if it looks like that.’‘Don’t give her any more, Phil.’‘Without sounding too much like the prime minister or one of those papers we don’t read, at the moment I think it should be a case of British jobs for British workers.’‘And European wine for British wives.’‘That’s a non sequitur.’‘No, it’s a postprandial sequitur.
