Today's Guardian reported Lord Turner running to the defence of those whom he had previously termed socially useless. This is all in the context of Vince Cable's speech to the LibDem conference where he stated his intention to shine a 'harsh light into the murky world of corporate behaviour.'
Turner rightly calls for policy changes to bring in the tight regulation which is vital if these massive institutions are to act in the interests of the customers and economies they serve.
It is a stark comparison to suggest that a bank might be bigger than the economy of the country in which it resides.
This is more than the anxieties over complex financial instruments about which I am writing in Broken Bonds, and much closer to Edward Heath's condemnation of the unacceptable face of capitalism which I recall was directed at Lonrho.
I am an historian who has recently published two books on the story of British manufacturing. Here are my thoughts on a number of other topics including my former roles as chair of the Lincoln Book Festival and chair of Lincoln Drill Hall. My other blogs http://williamsmithwilliams.co.uk talk about my biography of the man who discovered Charlotte Brontë, and http://www.philwilliamswriter.co.uk about my books on how the army was supplied in the world wars.