Bankers, arguably now less popular than paedophiles, continue to fill their boots while still being financially supported by, er, us.

This is to the tune of £5 billion a year in interest alone on the money shovelled at them, cash that covers pornographically high salaries and bonuses, such as the £7.7 million pay package for the chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland, Stephen Hester, a figure RBS chairman Sir Philip Hampton describes as “fair”

Meanwhile the British Bankers Association (BBA) has been forced by its members to drop plans to mount a legal challenge to customers being allowed to seek compensation retrospectively for being mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI), a case the BBA recently lost in the High Court.

More than 1.5 million complaints about PPI have been made to the Financial Services Ombudsman and compensation is expected to top £7 billion, a figure that BBA members are already making provision for.