There's nothing like a good old-fashioned stock market collapse to get a politician's attention.

Friday's panic did the trick, prompting governments around Europe to announce bank bailout plans similar to that unveiled by Gordon Brown last week. The markets' response was generous, with share prices more than making up the ground lost on freaky Friday.

The outlines of the plans, which include various guarantees for bank funding, look just what the doctor ordered and stand a good chance of controlling the disease.

A few concerns remain, however. Perhaps the biggest is what the Americans are going to do. The US Administration now looks well behind the curve, although the signs are it is catching up fast.

Hank Paulson, the US Treasury Secretary, has declared that Uncle Sam will not let a systemically important institution go under, which is as near as he is going to come to admitting that it was a mistake not to bail out Lehman Brothers.

The statement should have provided some support for Morgan Stanley even without the decision by Mitsubishi UFJ to go ahead with a revised investment in the Wall Street bank, which pushed its share price up by three quarters.

The recapitalisation of some banks by governments is a very helpful step, which is likely to prompt others banks to follow suit - but just because they are well-capitalised does not mean that banks will start lending again.

Further interest rate cuts may also be needed and, if today's inflation figures do turn out to be the peak, they may come soon.

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