Back in 1995 my club AFC Ajax was the reigning champion of the Europe – of the world, to be more specific. The old stadium was still in use and the new one had yet to be build. In England the Blackburn Rovers won the title and over here FC Volendam (!) played and lost the cupfinal to Feyenoord after the winning goal from good old Mike Obiku. Our Patrick Kluivert was the rising star. Sorry for this football intermezzo, yesterday’s victory over Fiorentina is still on my mind.

On the other side of the ocean the Twin Towers were still standing there. Bill Clinton was serving his first term and nobody knew miss Lewinsky. In 1995 I never heard of e-mail, and didn’t own a cellular phone. Actually, I hadn’t seen any mobile phone in real life. In the world of derivatives the physical trading pit was the place to be. Today, February 27th, the national AEX index dropped below the 2003 lows into levels last seen in 1995.Hard to believe the world has changed, but the index is back at the same old levels.

• AEX, crash