If religion is the opium of the people, reform is the double whisky of the legislators. Creating laws gives politicians a nice, warm glow. It makes them feel needed, an elusive buzz in a profession that is as unpopular as banking and journalism. The result is tinkering that is unhelpful to business.

It is therefore right to feel suspicious of proposals to adopt elements of the US’s Chapter 11 corporate insolvency regime here in the UK. David Cameron, the Tory leader, suggested the move last summer. A government consultation on Labour measures that borrow from Chapter 11 has just closed. Coming a year after the credit crunch that triggered the recession, the timing is fortuitous. It allows us to draw conclusions over whether our current system is bad enough to need overhaul.