The Spectator’s notes | 12 May 2012

If you want proof that we have not got over our banking crisis, you need look no further than the reaction to Mervyn King’s Today programme lecture last week. Almost all of it reflected — although it did not, of course, directly express — the rage of bankers at the Governor’s criticisms. ‘Already we see vested interests rise up to defend their bonuses and profits,’ said Sir Mervyn. They still find plenty of allies in the media to do so. Comment focused on how King’s own mea culpa had not been big enough. But the most important, virtually unreported point his lecture made was that none of the problems which became apparent in 2007 is yet solved. The troubles of the euro area may bring them all back. What would happen then? In particular, Sir Mervyn wants to separate essential banking services from the casino elements, breaking the implicit guarantee of the latter which is forced on governments by the overriding need to save the former.