It is not that I treated the Swinging Sixties with disdain.

Most simply, I was too young to feel the effect. Or perhaps the degree of Swing, so pronounced in the West End of London, had moderated somewhat by the time it reached the West End of Dundee, where I matured.

However, some of the impact got through; most notably, the music. I still shiver slightly when I hear See Emily Play by Pink Floyd, one of the anthems of my teenage years.

On balance, then, I acknowledge that the era was justly billed. As, from history, I recognise that the Twenties may have involved a certain amount of Roaring. While the Thirties, much more grimly, are recalled as Hungry.

Such curious thoughts arose as I pondered which sobriquet might usefully attach to the current era. Perhaps the Age of Apprehension?

For one thing, we are still mid pandemic. We have endured and are enduring a hideous plague, beset by a potentially hostile environment which we strive to subdue. Each time we think we have it beaten, it mutates, intent solely upon spreading, with us as hosts.

Further, there will not be a clean ending. There is no tournament referee to declare the contest over, with a blast on a whistle.

Covid will persist until it peters out, dissipated. Until, in practice, so many of us have been vaccinated or infected or both that we achieve the population immunity which was seemingly the objective of the UK Government in the earliest days.

But this too will pass. So-styled Spanish Flu killed millions in the immediate aftermath of the First World War. We recovered and we will again.

But there are other reasons for styling this the Age of Apprehension. The global economy, the economy on these islands, has not truly recovered from the banking collapse of 2007/08.

Most obviously, the Bank of England has yet to gain the confidence to justify raising interest rates. The forward path is still, understandably, defined by constraint and trepidation.

Then there is Brexit. It is difficult to get a handle on its precise impact, given the circumstances. Is economic turmoil solely or primarily down to the pandemic, rather than to the structural alteration in the UK’s trading status?

Critics are in no doubt. They say the harm caused by Brexit was explicitly identified and forecast by, among others, the Treasury. Leaving the EU has made adverse circumstances worse.

Equally, I am struck by the extent to which the advocates of Brexit now couch their forecasts in notably cautious terms.

There are no big red buses cruising our motorways, emblazoned with estimates of the cash advantage gained by leaving the European Union.

To be fair, neither side could be expected to anticipate the economic impact of a global virus.

But the Brexiteers did lead us to understand that their formula would be institutionally advantageous. That it would work in all circumstances. That gain was a given. There were no caveats to this oven-ready recipe: again, perhaps understandably in the fetid atmosphere of a referendum.

The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, now tells us that Brexit will prove the right course of action “in the long term”.

As he talks, companies are dealing with supply problems and a lack of hauliers. Mr Sunak says these issues are global, not Brexit-driven.

Those Brexit claims will, of course, be tested against delivery or otherwise in that longer term envisaged by the Chancellor. For now, the evident challenges add to the atmosphere of uncertainty.

And that feeling of disquiet is endemic. On my latest Herald podcast, one customarily cheery MSP said his view of the future was “optimistic – with caveats”.

Economic commentaries in Scotland catch that atmosphere effectively. Glance at the analysis provided by, among others, the Scottish Chambers of Commerce and the Fraser of Allander Institute.

They open by stressing the upside. There has been a summer bounce-back. Businesses are doing business, again, after the agony of repeated lockdown. There is a relative return of confidence.

But then those caveats. Rising cost pressures, which affect business as well as consumers. Labour shortages in key sectors. Export problems.

And, perhaps above all, looming energy problems as the cost of fuelling the economy rises.

Tim Allan, president of Scottish Chambers, underlines strong confidence and domestic sales but also says the progress made is “under significant threat with increasing concern over the emerging energy crisis driving up business costs.”

Mairi Spowage, director of the FoA Institute, also notes decided signs of improvement. But she points to potential negative factors, including the end of furlough plus the removal of the Universal Credit uplift.

Highlighting other broad challenges, she concludes that “the recovery could flatten off or even go into reverse”. Those caveats again, besmirching an otherwise positive picture.

Perhaps the energy issue might lead us to a different avenue of thought.

Glancing back through history, there were junctions where it was necessary to take the economy, to take daily life, into a different direction. One thinks of the agrarian and industrial revolutions, of the creation and growth of globalised trade, of the rise of new technology.

It is possible that we are at such a juncture, with a range of factors in play.

Most obviously, we need new energy solutions. Coal, oil and gas are depleting. We cannot and, environmentally, should not rely upon them.

If global business wishes to continue in existence, with the endorsement of global leaders, then it needs to join the urgent search for a transformation in energy use but also energy supply. There are welcome signs this is happening.

But equally trade may have to change. I would not want to exaggerate the short-term impact but perhaps the exchange of goods may become a little more local, less reliant on protracted supply chains.

Further, if High Streets are to survive, they have to offer distinctive service and added value, beyond what is available online. Better, not cheaper.

Further still, again without exaggerating, we may find ourselves working more from home. Within limits. It is difficult to cultivate a field from one’s attic.

Still, perhaps, just perhaps, the age of apprehension could be an age of opportunity.

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