The collapse in the oil price highlights an uncomfortable economic fact about modern Britain. What is good news for the man in the street is often bad news for the woman in Canary Wharf.

Motorists may be cheering the prospects of cheaper petrol following the 40% slump in the crude price since June. But in the City, there is a lot less celebration. As the oil price sinks, the implications sink in. "I can't see much upside at all, it's all bad," one of the City's top investment bankers complained to me last week.