The New Statesman has set two tests to see if David Cameron is serious about so called 'moral capitalism'. One is to withdraw the knighthood from Fred 'the Shred' Goodwin - the bank's former CEO. The other is to prevent the bank paying the current CEO, Stephen Hester, his million plus bonus.
Sadly these tests say more about the paucity of thinking on the Labour left than the glib Cameronian soundbite of 'moral capitalism'.
What RBS and the other banks need is a dose of hard anti-trust legislation. All of the banks - regardless of who owns them - need to be cut down in size and split up so the they can't use retail deposits to subsidise their casino operations. In addition they need to divest themselves of sufficient retail operations so they cease to act as a cartel and make space for true competition in the high street for deposits and loans.
By missing the essential big picture to concentrate on irrelevant ad hominem attacks, the Staggers is echoing its Labour masters. And if all Labour have to say on banking and the economy is to interfere with a bonus or two and withdraw a knighthood (that they granted) then they truly have lost the debate on the economic crisis.
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