There is no shortage of current candidates for the uncoveted title Sick Man of Europe: Greece, obviously, since it's in the midst of a deep depression and has just defaulted on its debts for a second time in a year via its deeply discounted debt buyback; Portugal and Ireland, since they are still subject to euro-zone bailouts; Spain, where unemployment is running at over 25%; Italy, whose economy has barely grown for 20 years and whose dysfunctional politics have returned to center stage now that former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has withdrawn his party's support for Mario Monti's government, potentially triggering elections in February.

But to this unglamorous list, one must now add the U.K.

The depth of the hole into which the U.K. has now sunk was laid bare in last week's Autumn Statement by Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne.

Since the government took office in May 2010, the economy has grown by just 0.9%, compared with its original forecast of 5.7% growth. Over this time, the U.K. has actually underperformed the euro zone as a whole and the economy is now expected to shrink by 0.1% this year.

Mr. Osborne was forced to admit he has made virtually no progress this year in cutting what is likely to be the biggest budget deficit in Europe, at an estimated 7.7% of GDP.