At the other end of the scale is the 1980s Memphis design collective, a group of young designers for whom 'the only rule was that there were no rule'.

A switch to forest gardening and other forms of permaculture is trickier, especially for producing grain; but such is the scale of the creeping emergency that we can't afford to rule anything out.

Mr Taylor's scepticism may well be Shared by other academic economists but the scale of the economic meltdown leaves them reluctant to rule out any options.