And then again, maybe not. For with each passing day it looks as though things could get even worse. With each ministerial announcement here, it appears that the vital lessons of Le Pen's strong showing in the first round of the French presidential elections will prompt precisely the opposite response to the one that both we and indeed the French need.

But today it is more like a sclerotic vein. The mills are closed and the industry gone. The shells that remain symbolise Britain's economic precariousness, historical demise and soon, possibly, the racial division and political alienation that have taken root.