Any problems? Blame the banks

If you wind the clock back one year, UK banks were the favourites of both the government and the financial media. They were one of the few sectors where we had global champions and their continued growth was the powerhouse of the economy. Their provision of credit and the recirculation of all the petro-dollars and export-led countries' excess cash to the Western World was a key part of economic policy.

The growth in lending was crucial to the success of New Labour. It fuelled 13 years of