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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
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Emma Brockes

How to survive our doomed times? Both the experts and I have the same advice

Front page of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 24 October 1929.
Front page of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 24 October 1929. Photograph: Icon Communications/Getty Images

In the past, my response to any given large-scale world crisis has generally been to do nothing, which, as well as aligning with my personality, has the advantage of being exactly what the experts recommend.

During periods of intense market volatility, we are advised not to look at our investments, let alone touch them. If we are rushed at by a bear, we are supposed to stand stock still (unless it’s one of those bears you have to bang pots and pans at, but let’s leave them aside). The result of this is an avoidant philosophy hingeing on the motto “it’ll probably be fine”, that, this week, as Tehran mocked the US for pretending peace talks were under way, was accompanied by a cold, rival notion: what if this time it’s different?

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