Putting Things Right the Osborne Way

Even in a well-ordered Big Society the prefects must step in now and again, and Triple-Dip George has informed the Royal Bank of Scotland that any international fines it incurs for rigging the rates must not be paid by the British taxpayer; at least not "on this occasion". The public will protect the bankers from fines incurred in the United Kingdom, as market forces and fair play decree; but it seems that international fines would, in the present state of the Conservative Party, be a pasty tax too far. A senior spokesbeing was duly extruded to proclaim the virtues of this sublime stroke of statesmanship, which surely ranks with telling train companies to stop killing people for profit or informing health companies that abuse of patients is to be avoided whenever it is expedient to do so.