Yet a strange thing has happened to policy discussion: on both sides of the Atlantic, a consensus has emerged among movers and shakers that nothing can or should be done about jobs.

But in China, a cross-strait merger of powerhouses like these, in banking or some other sector, would be applauded as an affirmation of its One China worldview.

So, ask businesses on both sides of the Atlantic, why have two lots of tests where one would do?

The same river flowed between us, singing the same song to both its banks.

Voters on both sides of the Atlantic need to demand more from their leaders than continued austerity on autopilot.