More explosives are piled on debt carousel of misery

IT was more speed hating than speed dating. Furtive glances... the anticipation — a mixture of dread and diminishing hope... people wondering who they would get and what the next few minutes would lead to.

Everyone seemed aware it was a moment that could really change their lives for ever.

But this was actually the end of a deeply unhappy, and increasingly bitter, relationship, not the beginning of a bright new one.