Just as everyone is patting themselves on the back over the non-appearance of the Y2K bug on any large scale, along come the doom merchants to burst the bubble. The head of a UN-sponsored group responsible for monitoring the effect of Y2K says the full impact of the computer glitch will be largely hidden until mid to late January. Meanwhile, mistakes may pile up, cause "lots of inconveniences", erode productivity and possibly disrupt world trade, according to Mr Bruce McConnell, head of the World Bank-funded International Y2K Co-operation Centre.

And a happy new year to you, too, Mr McConnell.

On a related note, the software industry, having scared the bejaysus out of the average person in the street with their grim prognosis for a Y2K problem which they themselves - or their predecessors - built into the programs, has turned its attention to new calamities.

The latest word in the street is that the software fixits, who made a tidy living out of putting the world to rights over the millennium, expect to do even better in getting us fully adjusted for the full-blown arrival of the euro . . .