On a recent visit to Washington I heard several people say that when the reckoning is finally made some big Wall Street figures are going to end up in jail. My impression is that many on this side of the Atlantic would like to see one or two British bankers join them.

Yesterday's announcement by Royal Bank of Scotland that it racked up losses of upwards of ￡20bn last year could scarcely have offered more eloquent testimony to the hubris that has brought the financial system to its knees. Banker friends (I still have a few) say that RBS was uniquely reckless in its bid for ABN Amro. But unless my memory deceives me, Barclays was almost as eager to stump up countless billions for the now-broken Dutch bank. As for the toxic loans on the banks' balance sheets, every week throws up another horror story.

There was political calculation, of course, in Mr Brown's comments. He has had to throw another couple of hundred billion pounds of taxpayers' money at the banks in the hope of averting an economic slump. Mr Brown needed to protect his flank: bailing out the banks again does not win points in the popularity stakes.