People who have stuck with this column since my departure from the IFSC may remember that the transition from office to home office wasn't always an easy one. In particular, the saga of the computer that decided to contemplate the meaning of life instead of getting on with it and running a few programs was one that had me close to tears.

I'm not sure what the equivalent PC message for "sorry, a system error has occurred" is, but every time it happened to the Mac back in January I was a candidate for the funny farm.

However, to show how things have changed, I didn't reach for the strait-jacket when it happened earlier in the week, even though there was a horrible, sinking feeling in my stomach and my palms began to sweat. Nope, I reached for my old-fashioned paper-storage medium (the book) and, in a calm, rational manner, read the best way to get myself out of the extensions conflict (see, I even know the jargon now) that had caused the systems error.

I did, however, have to resort to the bent paper clip to remove the CD from the computer, but this is a legitimate way of doing things and is actually recommended in the manual!

A couple of restarts later and it was working again. Not only that but I might have solved the problem I've been having with my zip drive at the same time. You cannot imagine my sense of achievement.

It was almost as good as recording the right TV programme on the video. Obviously recording the right programme on the TV is a task for which one would need more than a Computers for Total Morons manual and a bent paper clip though.

Anyway, the point is that, while you can flap around and panic the first time, even the second time and possibly the third time that things go wrong, you should finally learn from your mistakes and approach a crisis with some modicum of calm rationality. It's not always easy, but once you can do it, it pays dividends.

I offer the advice to Wim Duisenberg, Laurent Fabius, Gerhard Schroder, Ernst Welteke and the other euro-zone luminaries who clearly have a systems conflict themselves, as they continue to behave much as I did back in January - flap around making contradictory statements, pushing the wrong buttons and generally getting themselves in a state about something they need to approach in a more rational way.

The euro's weakness has more to do with the divergent statements from these people than anything else. Certainly, Mr Schroder's comments that this very weakness was helpful to the German economy (true, without a doubt) was clearly going to send a currency that everyone else seems to want higher down to further lows.

And Mr Duisenberg must be feeling some pressure by now - a legacy of presiding over a currency that has slid down the slippery slope since its inception is probably not what he had in mind when he wriggled into the top job.

He's definitely more comfortable warning governments, like ours, about the need to curb inflation than he is about discussing the type of structural reforms needed in Europe to make it a place that investors want to put their money. But telling people what they already know about inflationary pressures isn't exactly bringing anything new to the party.

I have some sympathy for the ECB's plight, but it seems to be stuck in the mindset of the past rather than looking to the future. And it needs to be more forward-thinking if Europe is to emulate the amazing success of the US over the past 10 years.

There's no doubt that the continued strength of the US economy surprised many pundits who thought that the momentum would swing from the States to Europe this year. But, even with a slowdown more firmly on the cards, the US is attracting investment funds out of Europe, which doesn't help us at all.

With the impact from oil prices (which will still remain high despite OPEC's decision to increase production) holding the potential to slow down economies globally, there's more confidence in the US with its can-do economy than in Europe with its how-do-we-manage-it approach. There's still a conflict of views between the politicians and the central bankers and that's the euro's problem. There's no conflict in the States, and that's the dollar's strength.

Europe and the US have occupied traders' minds for a lot of this year but they were forced to look eastward again when Moody's decided it was time for another cut to Japan's domestic debt rating last week. Once AAA-rated, yen-denominated bonds are now AA2 - better than many recent telecom companies but not exactly what a G7 nation expects.

To rub salt into the wound, Moody's announced that Japan would remain on negative watch. Moody's is concerned about the spending that is designed to pull the country out of recession - the debt/GDP ratio is soaring.

Standard & Poors, the other rating agency, hasn't downgraded Japan at all, clearly of the view that the Japanese government can manage the debt. Standard & Poors is comforted by the fact that Japan has huge domestic savings and that the government holds assets that can be set off against the debt.

There is no real danger of the Japanese government defaulting (famous last words), but the danger is that it will continue to be slow about reforming its truly awful financial system and that, eventually, domestic bondholders will begin to sell and move their capital overseas. However, they haven't done so before now and many commentators think it's unlikely that they'll do so in the future.

The fact that there are two very different ratings from the leading agencies is enough to make new investors wary, though. Especially when the yield on long-dated government bonds is less than 2 per cent. Nevertheless the yen's appreciation against the dollar and the euro this year will keep most investors on-side and Moody's downgrade so far hasn't done any more than make people shrug their shoulders.

The Japanese are keeping quiet about it all - something that the Europeans might try themselves for a few weeks. You never know, a period of quiet reflection before pressing the panic button might help.