Have I slipped through a hole in the space-time continuum, or are the arguments being played out at Nissan the same ones that were rehearsed two years ago? Then, the company boss - Carlos Ghosn (rhyme it with bone) - threatened to take production of the Micra car away from the Sunderland if he did not have the Government's firm commitment to a single European currency.

He did not get it but kept the Micra in the North-East anyway. Fast forward two years and the same hints are being dropped by Mr Ghosn about the replacement for the Almera hatchback.

Membership of the euro would "relieve us of a lot of uncertainties. It is better for Nissan to have its costs in the same currency as its revenues. If there are too many risks, we will go elsewhere."

Mr Ghosn should remember that business has always battled against fluctuating and unkind interest rates. The more financially sophisticated have hedged against currency upheavals, taking the pain out of the swings.

Equally, the single European currency has become a multi-purpose excuse that companies use when opting to move to cheaper production overseas.

Companies that use such an excuse, and who might be tempted to trade in a first-class Sunderland workforce for one in, say, Poland, deserve the surprises they will undoubtedly get as they survey the finished product. "Does it really have to have brakes, Mr Ghosn?"

The Nissan boss should probably try to envisage what sort of heed would be paid to a British company with a factory in Japan that found the fluctuations of the yen onerous. Of course, the Japanese government would adjust currency policy on its honoured guest's behalf immediately. Wouldn't it?

So what lies behind Mr Ghosn's amazing arrogance in demanding just that of our Government?

Certainly, he has taken Nissan from a practically doomed shell to a company as sleek as one of its 350Z sports cars.

No wonder that Mr Ghosn has had a book written about him: Turnaround - How Carlos Ghosn Rescued Nissan. Perhaps his peremptory demands of our Prime Minister indicate he's started to believe that the invincibility of his comic book self translates into real life.

- lan Reeve is Business Correspondent, BBC TV North East & Cumbria.

Published: 20/05/2003