If there were any clues as to what the bankers were doing with our money at the ‘casino’, look up the word derivative.

Found mainly in “quick guide to being a bookie” books, it’s just a complicated bet!

They are there primarily to make money, tempted only by the large bonus arrangements and, boy, have they done well. They are making more money now in the downturn than they were during the upturn. Given that the bankers’ modus operandi is making money at any cost, it’s the perfect storm.

It was our pension funds they were using and it won’t be the banks paying back the money either, that money has gone. The only money our government will get from the banks is from us again through nefarious bank charges.

The problem is exacerbated by our MPs who have now lost any moral authority due to their complicity in the lobbying and expenses scandals, which is very unfortunate for the good ones. Furthermore it is becoming clear that the bankers who have a stranglehold on the economic recovery and are holding the Government to ransom, are demanding business as usual after the elections.

Now would be a good time to break up the whole system and offer a Bank of Britain in all the Post Offices, similar to the system in New Zealand.

Given a radical alternative to the existing banks, I, like many others, would be happy to close my accounts and move to a people’s bank.

Good service and profit are not good bed fellows, they just distort things. Just ask the people of Rishton, how good the banking service is, there no longer is one.

Craig Hall, Church Street, Gt. Harwood.