Silvio Berlusconi said Italy was not Greece. Hosni Mubarak said Egypt was not Tunisia, arguing that Tunisia was a much smaller country, on the periphery of the Arab world, and lacked the breadth and the fundamentals of Egypt. Mr Mubarak was wrong, so was Mr Berlusconi. The spark in Tunisia of course fuelled a chain reaction leading to an awakening across the Arab world.

In the case of Egypt, the outdated regime was far too sluggish in reacting to the crisis that was challenging its legitimacy, always managing to fall short of the necessary response. It was as if it was relying on a typewriter as opposed to a social network.

The same goes for Europe. Facing a public debt crisis, it has – as so many have observed – been slow to respond. Pathetically short of ideas, the European Union comes across as an old regime that cannot comprehend the markets’ “pulse”.