Time to make bankers pay for their mistakes

Sometimes you have to admire the Australians. As the world celebrates the fact that the financial system is still functioning after last year’s near-fatal heart attack, its leaders are planning to meet in Pittsburgh to decide on a cohesive recovery plan.

An exception is Kevin Rudd, the prime minister of Australia, who apparently wrote to Barack Obama asking if the meeting couldn’t be postponed so he could watch an Aussie Rules football match. Rather unsportingly, Mr Obama declined.

So for Mr Rudd’s benefit, and for any bankers who think it’s bonus time, let us begin by recalling the gravity of the situation. Soon after the banks had started failing, it was dubbed “the end of capitalism”.