We’re getting burned just so the bondholders get their cash

IT may have escaped your notice but the country has finally emerged from the economic crisis that has gripped it for over three years.

Well, that’s according to French President Nicholas Sarkozy who, rather alarmingly, seems to suddenly regard bankrupt Ireland as a model of fiscal probity for the other bad boy countries in Europe.

Mr Sarkozy made his comments after yet another eurozone crisis summit on Sunday but, in his defence, he could have been suffering from the phenomenon of “baby brain”. True, it’s more common in mothers, as memory loss is a physiological consequence of pregnancy, but perhaps new father Mr Sarkozy has been stricken with the same ailment.