THOSE BAD BANKERS

The agenda is pretty clear.

Our caring sharing Chancellor Alistair Darling is calling in the Banks later today to find out why they are not lending to the degree he expects.

On Today, BBC favourite John McFall was brought in to reiterate the main talking points with Angela Knight, chief executive of the British Bankers’ Association.

The interview was set up with the story of a small businessman who owns a successful coffee-shop and who seeks to take over another one and can’t get a loan from the local bank. The punchline was that there is a lot of “red-tape” involved in the small business loan area and banks are unfairly refusing to loan.

I thought Knight did rather well in explaining the position of ANY sensible lender. Naturally some sectors, such as Catering, are very vulnerable in a recession, and I would not blame any Bank which is cautious. Let us remember that this recession was brought about by reckless lending. Yet that is exactly what the Government via Darling and McFall are insisting the Banks continue with.

Madness.