As the government has to support another bank, the state of our economy to those who don’t understand economics doesn’t look in good health, and yet it isn’t clear to me what else could have been done.

It was interesting to read the Archbishop of York speaking out on some of the current financial practices:

“To a bystander like me, those who made £190m deliberately underselling the shares of HBOS, in spite of a very strong capital base, and drove it into the arms of Lloyds TSB, are clearly bank robbers and asset strippers,” Dr Sentamu told the annual dinner of the Worshipful Company of International Bankers.

The archbishop also noted the contrast between the US government bank bail-out and the lack of funding for efforts to reduce poverty.

The US Treasury has proposed a fund worth up to $700bn (£382bn) to buy back much of the bad debt held by banks and other financial institutions.

The archbishop acknowledged the need for stable financial systems if poverty was to be eradicated, but added: “One of the ironies about this financial crisis is that it makes action on poverty look utterly achievable. It would cost $5bn (£2.7bn) to save six million children’s lives.

“World leaders could find 140 times that amount for the banking system in a week. How can they tell us that action for the poorest is too expensive?”

Thanks to The Hutch