In a few weeks time, the annual release of the secret cabinet papers from a quarter of a century ago will take place. They will cover two years, 1986 and 1987. This will open a window on a past which the nation is in desperate need of repeating.

In was on May 14, 1986 that Paul Keating delivered his “banana republic" warning, an unpremeditated but explosive response to a bad set of balance of payment figures.