We will have to go back to a position where only the “middle classes” (salaried and relatively secure careers) and the financially prudent can aspire to home ownership. Everyone else will rent or hope to be left property in a will. The upside of this is that in real terms houses will get cheaper and people on average salaries will again be able to afford an average house.

Ditto credit. Until the 1980s most people did not have credit cards. Getting a bank loan was quite a big deal. People will have to save up to buy things again, a habit which died out with my grandparents generation.

All of this would mean the entire economy contracts. Probably permanently. With a much tighter money supply consumers will no longer be able to binge on credit, the service sector in particular, which is 70% of the UK economy, will be hit hard.

The upside could be – a partial rebirth of manufacturing indutry in the UK. With demand for services down, credit tigh, a weak currency and low inflation, making stuff as opposed to buying it from China becomes more economically attractive.

I remember the veteran socialist Tony Benn saying in the 1980s “We can’t build an economy by selling each other hamburgers and life insurance” he was dismissed as a loony at the time, but it looks like he was right after all…..

I’ve heard mixed opinions about their customer service, though: I think they could do more to differentiate their product. They’ll certainly never have a better opportunity.