EN
For a Banach space X with an unconditional basic sequence, one of the following regular-irregular alternatives holds: either X contains a subspace isomorphic to ℓ₂, or X contains a subspace which has an unconditional finite-dimensional decomposition, but does not admit such a decomposition with a uniform bound for the dimensions of the decomposition. This result can be viewed in the context of Gowers' dichotomy theorem.