Breathtaking Banks

I struggled to believe what I was reading when Heather McGregor,in the Observer of 18th October,wrote under the headline 'No they [Bankers] didn't cause the crash.Bankers deserve to be rewarded'  Observer 18th October). The people who really deserve high pay & Knighthoods/Peerages & all the rest are the likes of Ross Brawn who picked up a dead Formula 1 racing team & in less than a year took it to a World Championship, in the process preserving a large number of highly skilled manufacturing jobs in Northampton. Or the Indian eye surgeon who so skilfully removed a cataract from my 91yr old uncle. Not people who simply push other peoples money round a computer network creaming off a percentage at every stage.

Camerons cronys

The George bit of the David & George show says Labour is seeking to "suck up to business" and the Tories were not "bedazzled by big money" and would "not fawn over" wealth creation. He surely jests. Assuming the Tories win the General Election (by no means as certain as some would believe) there will be at least 50 MPs with Financial Services backgrounds. Moreover the Tories have recruited two exceptionally wealthy City performers (Michael Spencer CEO Icap and Stanly Fink former CEO of Man Group) as the Party's co- treasurers. Cameron has also created a network of supporters, many with City backgrounds, who have special access to him. Let us assume that Cameron & Osborne are sincere about curbing the excesses of the financial services industry, any one who thinks that they would be allowed to do anything effective about it is living in fantasy land.

A different double standard

So Alex Fergusson is upset that the ref didn't go on playing injury time until Manchester United could score the winning goal - like they did previously with a more compliant referee. Boo hoo. How sad.