Indeed, if the developed world as a whole suffers an absolute decline in 2009, next year is set to be the first year on record when emerging economies account for more than 100% of world growth.

In 1997 at Black Rock Desert, Nevada, he drove Thrust SSC to become the first person to break the sound barrier in a car and set the existing land-speed record of 763mph.

The reinsurer Munich Re reported last month that the first half of 2010 set a loss record for natural disasters;