Which is the longer time period a week in politics, or a week on the markets?

Until recently – for all but astrophysicists – the answer has been easy: a week on the markets. Last week, I contrasted the near-frantic repricing of mortgage lending with the Nero-like fiddling of Treasury ministers and Bank of England mandarins in the face of an incendiary UK housing market. But then, this week, the prime minister, in his role as First Lord of the Treasury, suggested backing for a Bank of England plan to swap assets with mortgage lenders to free up – in one bound – the money, mortgage and housing markets. For the first time in ages, the markets reacted to the faster-moving politicians – rather than vice versa – with Libor easing slightly and shares in the big five banks all rising.