Greece's budget deficit is impossibly high. But Great Britain's is even higher. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has his work cut out for him in this election year - and the coming cuts will be painful.

For the darkest hours in the fight against Adolf Hitler, the British Ministry of Information - which existed for the duration of World War II - had set aside a special poster. Intended to bring calm to the home front, it depicted the crown of King George VI against a red background, with the words "Keep Calm and Carry On" printed beneath the image.

The situation never became sufficiently desperate to justify using the poster, and the millions of copies that had been printed were stored away unused. Ten years ago, a bookseller discovered a single copy and hung it up in his shop. That may well have been the end of the poster's career, but then the country was suddenly faced with multiple crises: terrorist attacks, a banking debacle and, finally, the economic and credit crisis.

The bright-red poster now hangs in the offices of directors and members of parliament, in soldiers' barracks and student dormitories. Entire ministries are using it to boost morale, and framed versions of the posters are even said to grace the walls of No. 10 Downing Street and Buckingham Palace.

If only keeping calm and carrying on were that easy this time around. The British pound is tottering. The economy finds itself in its worst crisis since 1931, and the country came within a hair's breadth of a deep recession. Speculators are betting against an upturn. Instability in the banking sector has had a more severe impact on government finances in Great Britain than in other industrialized countries. London's budget deficit will amount to £186 billion (€205 billion, or $280 billion) this year - fully 12.9 percent of gross domestic product.