And with one bound, we were free! Or, to put it more technically, with £21bn of short-dated government bonds – to fund the £37bn government investment in new shares issued by Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Lloyds TSB and HBOS – our money markets will be freed!

It has certainly been tempting to think of this week’s plan to recapitalise UK banks as a big step out of the credit crisis. In fact, a number of authorities have been only too happy to succumb to that temptation.