Matthew's Journal

British banks' capital (which regulators use in deciding how much they ought to be allowed to lend out) isn't money, but rather insurance! How on earth is that a sensible way for the economy to be run? I think we should be thinking very seriously about stiffer regulation of the financial sector.

In related news, since the Office of Fair Trading was making noises that maybe the result of a Lloyds / HBOS merger would be a bit of a monopoly, the government is to legislate to stop the OFT or Competition Commission from objecting. I'm sure that's...ethical.

As an aside, pestons_picks makes interesting reading, and I'm not generally that interested in economics!