Be informed

Bob Diamond, the CEO of Barclays Bank, was on The Today Programme on Radio 4 on Friday 4 November. He’d given the inaugural BBC Economics lecture the night before and came on to face John Humphrys in a kind of defence of banking. Listening to him, one might have thought that all was rosy in the the world of banking. These valued institutions have regrettably moved away from the Captan Mainwaring approach – sitting down with the local bank manager to agree a loan – but the branches are friendly and well decorated. A bit of miss-selling of financial products – in particular pension protection insurance – was nothing too serious. And paying lots of money for the best financial talent is justfiable. Himself included. It’s a global business. His own salary was a bit of a contention – he didn’t like being asked about it. As always in these situations, they generally argue that it is up to the remuneration committee to decide salaries. The fact that the global economy is on its knees because of these people seems not to have registered. Listen here

Nice tie.