According to a new report by the Centre for Economics and Business Research, the UK could find itself dropping out of the top ten economies in the world by 2015. In the economic equivalent of the FIFA world rankings, China, France and Italy have recently overtaken us. If this trend continues, we'll no longer be a "seeded team" in the UN Security Council.

For those with a soft spot for the old days of Empire, when its pink gore was splattered across the atlas, they'll be even more upset to learn that the UK could be overtaken by former colonies Canada in 2015 and Australia (with a fraction of our population) by 2020.

Apparently this movement down the rankings would affect nothing in our day-to-day lives or our economic growth, but it would mean that we'd be unable to pack the punch that we do currently on the world stage. Any jingoistic fervor I may feel is severely tempered by the memory that this punch recently included the Iraq War.

But it is, in truth, a very different world that is emerging now. As the climate summit in Copenhagen testifies to, there is ever more need for international cooperation if we are to create environmental, economic and social stability in the coming years. And as populations swell around the world, and huge nations rush to industrialise, the time for our small country to cherish a top ten ranking is over anyway.

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