The Government now owns 70 per cent of Royal Bank of Scotland. I should have thought the way forward for this abortion was pretty obvious. The majority shareholder should close it down forthwith. It will lose its – our – money, but that may be a cheaper option at a time when firms such as Unilever and BP are regarded as better investments than gilts. Under existing laws, most depositors will get all their money back. The assets of the bank, such as they are, could then be sold, and other creditors could get their penny in the pound. There is no point keeping it in business. It should be put out of its misery for its own sake and to encourage the others. We now have too many banks. One fewer would be a blessing. The vultures of Lombard Street would feed on its corpse and seek to prove the late Professor Hayek right yet again: that bankruptcies are good, because they drive inefficiencies out of an economy. That is sorely needed, and would serve RBS right. I am aware it would upset the Scots, but they have only themselves to blame: and the wellbeing of the Scottish banking community should be regarded by the rest of us as a poisonous political consideration that Mr Brown will just have to ignore. He has bigger problems than that.