Nearly two years into the financial crisis, plans to save the world from a repeat performance are slowly emerging. The UK’s financial markets white paper, presented by Alistair Darling, chancellor of the exchequer, suffers from vagueness, but it is a good start.

The bulk of its regulatory proposals are absolutely right; pre-funding of the deposit insurance system, increased supervision of liquidity, counter-cyclical capital requirements and leverage caps are all prudent measures.