ALT Liz truss is already a historical figure. However long she now lasts in office, she is set to be remembered as the prime minister whose grip on power was the shortest in British political history. Ms Truss entered Downing Street on September 6th. She blew up her own government with a package of unfunded tax cuts and energy-price guarantees on September 23rd. Take away the ten days of mourning after the death of the queen, and she had seven days in control. That is the shelf-life of a lettuce. If this judgment sounds severe, look at the bond markets, where gilt yields have this week been climbing again. Two fires are burning in markets. The first, more urgent problem is related to financial stability. The Bank of England has twice widened its emergency bond-buying programme to try to prevent a spiral of forced selling of assets by pension funds. As a sign of markets’ continuing unease, sterling slid when the bank’s governor said on October 11th that purchases would end as planned on 14t