“Northern Rock – all their fault,” was the subtext of Tuesday’s pronouncements by the Bank of England and the Financial Services Authority. It was a mutual knifing and both sides were right. The liquidity crisis and subsequent run on that wretched bank produced enough blame to share around.

“It clearly is the case that if liquidity in smaller amounts had been made available to Northern Rock earlier. . . it is quite possible it would subsequently not have needed to apply to the lender of last resort facility,” said Hector Sants of the FSA. That is a direct attack on the Bank, which refused to offer extra liquidity to banks until after the Northern Rock rescue.