"Tell me," the young man asked a decrepit old woolman, "what is your view - against a lifelong background of trading in wool, - on the single currency?"

"I have no clear and decisive view on this," the old fellow said. "How can anyone be sensible, when all these politicians and experts differ so violently?" He added: "I know that wool officialdom is in favour, but then, they would be, wouldn't they? It was the same when we went into Europe. I must confess I voted in favour in that referendum, just half hoping that there might be better opportunities and a little more economic discipline - a ghastly time, as you won't remember.

"But I still wonder if we shouldn't have done just as well outside the thing, if only we'd given up illusions of international grandeur. Switzerland seems to get on very well.

"But how will you vote, in the currency referendum?" the young man asked.

"I am old, young William," the old man said.

"But if it materialises in my time I don't think I can vote at all. It will all be public relations, politics and anger, nothing to do with trade survival and making a profit," he said.

"But do you think the trade will benefit?" asked the young man.

"Not much, if at all. Assuming there's much trade left by the time it happens for us. Sterling is destructively strong now because interest rates are high. It could be high for years to come if early European qualifiers make a mess of this single currency, which is quite likely

Who will be left in the trade if it is?" said the old man.

"The only sensible conclusion, in today's jargon, is that basically, at the end of the day, it'll be tomorrow."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.