Gosling's Grouse: Are banks really that bad?

Bailed out by the taxpayer but still paying what many consider to be huge bonuses, banks continue to come under fire. But are they really that bad?

Are banks inherently bad? The title of a new book by the City editor of the Daily Mail, Alex Brummer, would imply they are. His book Bad Banks is what you would call a bit of a romp (without the sex) of all the shenanigans the banks got up to in the run-up to, and through the financial crisis. It is a light read for the summer holidays – without the real drama of Flash Boys or Too Big to Fail – but it will nonetheless keep your brain ticking over in case you are worried it might atrophy without access to a BlackBerry for two weeks. You are left, thanks to Brummer’s anecdotes, with ...