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Bringing bankers to heel

Management Today and other business magazines criticise the Chancellor for continuing to focus on City bonusses. Recent history has shown that the City is quite adept at imploding. Various banking events, Barings Nick Leeson being perhaps the most famous, have shown the City institutions to be incredibly inward looking, focussing on what they can get out of the system for themselves rather than what they can do for others. Bankers are there for one thing, to accumulate vast capital in their personal accounts and their employer's treasury.

It's good to know that the farming industry is somewhat different.

Industry, including farmers, needs working capital for fertiliser, stock and so on, and risk capital to invest in machinery, maybe even processing plant. It looks to banks and the City for this capital. A banking crisis like last years does them, and thus the economy, no good, and Chancellor Darling is well advised to focus on getting the City and money markets so they can provide the finance needed by industry and commerce. The megabonus culture was inward looking - the City needs to be thinking what it can do for others, not just itself. Darling's focus on getting the City right is one of the most important things he can do at present. If he can manipulate the way the system works so there is more capital available for real projects, by taking it away from the high risk, high return projects such as those in such trouble in Dubai, we will all be winners. But the system at present favours Dubai and others, largely because they are so beguiling.