As starts go, it was not an auspicious one. When the heads of government of the Group of 20 countries met in Washington in mid-November, it was billed as the new Bretton Woods: a radical change in global governance that would give big emerging markets their rightful place at the table. No longer would small cabals of rich countries like the Group of Eight stitch up deals while excluding half the world economy from the discussions.

The G20 has been in existence for years but achieved little. The November meeting sketched out a grand plan to co-operate in supporting global growth and combating the financial crisis – recognising the falsity of vague hopes that big parts of the world economy would be “decoupled” from the slowdown.