This spring, a bout of witch-hunting has broken out on Wall Street. After the implosion of Bear Stearns, politicians, investors, regulators and lawyers having been eagerly casting around for someone to blame (if not send to jail).

In London a similar game has started, albeit more subtly. This week, the Financial Services Authority issued a report on its treatment of Northern Rock, prior to its collapse. This casts the British regulators in a deeply unflattering light. Indeed, the sense of recrimination is now so intense that it has prompted reshuffles and departures at the FSA.