Bob 'Diamond' Diamond

Iain Martin in the Telegraph today says he has a sliver of sympathy for Bob Diamond because Nick Clegg has had a go at him. Pretty stupid remark to make really, even if the actual intention was to say that Nick Clegg is wrong about everything (true though that may be). He supports his anti Clegg rant by saying (even more stupidly) that Bob Diamond built up Barclay's Capital from scratch.

Not perhaps in the same way Virgin was built from scratch. When a mainstream, 'big four' (as they were) bank decides to set up a new arm they don't start with a market stall. Anyway, enough of not very bright remarks by people who are paid for their comments.

Bob Diamond has resigned to spend more time with his lawyers. Sometime soon we are going to be treated to the vanishing job role that we always see in such cases. Bob Diamond gets paid the big bucks because he is the inspiration in the company, he makes it successful (let alone built it from scratch), right up until something untoward happens. Then, his job doesn't involve him knowing what the company does day to day or where the money comes from.

In fact you would have a job pinning down exactly what he does do at Barclays now. He once said that the buck stops with him, but I'm guessing that is not the reason he has resigned, no noble and principled stand involved. No, I'd be willing to bet that he has checked the wind and knows that this is the scandal the politicians have been waiting for.

Similar to their expenses scandal, involving as it does a sort of institutionalised theft through an entitlement belief, but one for which they can act outraged. Naturally they didn't want (nor understand) the fuss over their own misdemeanour's, but bankers make an excellent foil.

Politicians generally tried to keep a lid on the banker bashing over the financial collapse because they were too closely associated with it to make capital (no pun intended). But now, they are hoping they have a stand alone reason to attack someone, anyone to focus national anger, as a sort of cathartic process.

So Bob knows that the politicians will be happy to see him locked up and has exited the scene of the crime early. He may well even be looking for somewhere with no extradition agreement with the UK or the US, as they seem pretty annoyed too. Or won't it come to that? Is a fix under way behind the scenes?

It seems inordinately difficult to find a law that stops banks from lying and ripping off it's clients. Strange, because there are laws that cover everything the common man in the street does down to how he is permitted to think. Strange 'oversight' don't you think? Hints at that awful word collusion again does it not?

The Left has ruled the roost politically for a long time now, with a particular line in claptrap aimed at the 'failure of capitalism'. It isn't capitalism that has failed it is the rise of corporatism, which sees ultimate form the the cosy relationships of Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and the likes of Bob Diamond. We know what needs curing, it is just that the people who benefit from the corruption are the ones with their hands on the reins of power. A powerful reason as to why the parties control politics and why there is almost no difference between them.