While the national news is full of gloomy tales of dodgy dealing and bankers’ greed, here’s a form of transaction they’d do well to learn: honesty. Honesty Coffee Shop in the Philippines has no sales staff and relies on its customers to pay up after choosing from a product list next to a box and a sign reading ’Please Pay Here’. Would it catch on in the UK? Well, it worked for WH Smith when it introduced an honesty box for newspapers, and it certainly cuts down on staff overheads...

But it’s unlikely to challenge Starbucks any time soon: UK consumers might baulk at the drinks, served from a thermos bottle and packets of coffee. Then there’s the question of crime. Local mayor Ramon Elizondo is quoted in the Filipino press as saying the only crime committed there is "drunkenness and unruly behaviour under the influence of gin". Not so dissimilar to the UK, then.