Is 2016 the year when the world tumbles back into economic crisis?

Some see China's share collapse as merely a symptom of middle-class prosperity. Others take a darker view - and if they are right, the global threat is real

Rarely have financial markets had a more traumatic start to the year. Shares plunged, the price of oil clattered to its lowest level in 11 years, trading on the Chinese stock market was halted twice, and the World Bank warned that a "perfect storm" might be brewing.

George Osborne chose his moment well to go public with his concern that the UK faces a "cocktail of threats". In addition to the $2tn wiped off global stock markets, the North Koreans claimed they had exploded a hydrogen bomb and relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran worsened markedly.

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