On the whole, the chancellor’s Autumn Statement was rather understated. Jeremy Hunt unveiled a huge package of tax and spending changes with less of the fanfare we have come to expect. And none of the rabbits. Perhaps it was just that the news was so unremittingly bad.

But in one area, the chancellor indulged in a bit of hype. His repeated mention of Big Bang suggested he was planning a programme of radical regulatory reform for financial services. But in reality, the only concrete move he announced was the widely-trailed and long-awaited changes to the Solvency II capital regime for insurance companies.