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  Now now Marek - that was not an attack on you as such, but on what you said. The fact remains that Brown was an unmitigated disaster for the UK over 13 years and the depth and length of the crisis as it affects the UK is entirely of his making. I have always made it clear where his responsibilities and many errors lay that created this situation.
  
  Alexander - Some, repeat some, bankers did take Brown at his word and exploited the 1997 regulatory changes he introduced and it is correct to say that certain Chief Execs overstretched the resources of their bank and in so doing left them vulnerable when the cyclical turndown came along. But, regulation in financial services is there for a good reason because it stops banks, that are not 'normal' businesses from acting as 'normal businesses'. The removal of that regulation and the urging on of Brown was reckless to say the least. I have said before that I have a friend who was a bank Chief Exec who retired not long after Brown's regulatory changes came into force. He told me that every 3 months he had to take his top management team to the Bank of England to be grilled on every aspect of their bank's activities. The BoE had draconian powers over their activities at the time. After Brown changed the rules that all stopped overnight. No wonder the banking system went to hell in a handcart. Another important point he told me as well, he said that bank chief execs were increasingly being drafted in from business, rather than banking, so while they understood business they did not properly understand the banking
  
  The banking crisis, however, is only a small part of the story of the current financial crisis. The sovereign debt issue is the real elephant in the room caused by spendthrift governments.

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