Leading article: Ashen-faced

This is all starting to feel worryingly biblical. First the Icelanders attempt to destroy our savings with their dodgy banks. Now they've sent a cloud of ash from the Eyjafjallajöekull volcano which has succeeded in grounding all our flights (let's hope this doesn't give the British Airways cabin crew any bright ideas). What could be next? A plague of Icelandic frogs perhaps? Locusts?

Mind you, things probably look very different from Icelandic shores. After all, who was it who effectively branded them financial "terrorists" at the height of the credit meltdown? And which nation has been trying to impose grotesquely vindictive interest rates on the outstanding money they owe, threatening to keep them out of the European Union if they dare to resist? Britain, that's who.

It's not clear what Eyjafjallajöekull means in English, but we suspect that it's not terribly polite.