Bankers, looters and the politics of envy

There were few more shocking images than that of fire tearing through the 26 homes above the blazing Carpetright store in Tottenham, on the first day of the rioting which has so appalled and frightened the nation.

This wanton act of destruction, which signalled the start of four days of anarchy, left families homeless, heartbroken and in desperate need of help.

Yet, as this paper reveals today, when some of these families — several of whom have lost everything they own — asked their banks for permission to delay payment of their mortgages, so they had a few extra pounds to rebuild their shattered lives, they were refused.

Shocking: Fire rips through the Carpetright outlet in Tottenham after rioting broke out in the district on Saturday night

Should we be surprised? For such insensitivity has characterised the behaviour of the banks both before and, more pertinently, after the economic crash that they caused through their reckless greed.

No matter that they were bailed out with hundreds of billions of pounds of taxpayers' money, they have continued to award themselves huge, offensively disproportionate bonuses that are scandalously out of kilter with the remuneration available in other equally important parts of the British economy.

Let's be clear: nothing — nothing — could justify or excuse the violent criminality of the looting anarchists who this week so stained Britain's reputation as a civilised society.

The bankers' refusal to rein in their greed is fuelling the politics of envy in Britain — and envy is a toxic and corrosive creator of social unrest and Left-wing demagoguery



But is it surprising that an increasing number of decent civic-minded people consider the bankers' behaviour to be almost as reprehensible?

After all, they argue, the bankers have the same contempt for the law-abiding public as those looters and the same sense of entitlement to wealth as the teenagers who smash shop windows to steal flat-screen televisions.

More worryingly, the bankers' refusal to rein in their greed is fuelling the politics of envy in Britain — and envy is a toxic and corrosive creator of social unrest and Left-wing demagoguery.

Sense of entitlement: Looters run from an electronics store near New St Station, Birmingham, as fresh disturbances saw looting and vehicles set alight in the city

Before the election, the Tories promised to crack down on bankers' earnings. Since then they have done nothing despite the fact the banks are only lending half the amount they were loaning to small businesses in 2008 — when the recession was at its height.

In recent days, David Cameron has shown great determination to tackle the root causes of the riots, which he rightly identifies as being family breakdown, ill-discipline in schools and the insidious culture of welfare dependency.

But, if he continues to allow the banks to disregard basic rules of integrity and fair play, he ignores another source of simmering injustice.

He also leaves his party open to damaging claims that it is too close to the rich and powerful.

The banks have had plenty of time to change their ways voluntarily, but have contemptibly refused to do so. Mr Cameron must now force their hand.

Despair... and hope

Dignity: Tariq Jahan holds a picture of his son Haroon Jahan who died in a hit and run during the Birmingham riots

Communities standing as one to defy the violence of the riots and guard their shops, homes and places of worship...

Young and old picking up brooms and together sweeping away the debris of the previous night's ritual destruction...

The past week has shown human beings at their worst... and at their best.

Most extraordinary of all was the compassion and courage of Tariq Jahan, whose son was one of three young men senselessly murdered by a looter in Birmingham, but who found the words and dignity to call for calm, and eschew all violence.