You’ll recall that in Jaws, the earnest police chief struggles to convince the smug mayor of Amity Island that sharks pose a threat to the tourist idyll he is overseeing. As another attack begins, the camera zooms in on his horrified face.

It’s easy to picture the equivalent scene at the Bank of England, Financial Services Authority and Treasury in 2007 as the run on Northern Rock began. As the FT has reported, all three had identified the Rock’s weaknesses, and its possible knock-on effect on HBOS, using “war games” three years earlier.