BASIC capitalist rules of engagement dictate that the Royal Bank of Scotland should have been allowed to collapse when its management ran it into the ground, but it was bailed out by the public, by the taxpayer.

This act alone set RBS apart from countless manufacturing companies — or even entire industrial sectors — that were adjudged unprofitable and allowed to die, no matter the effect on workers, families and entire communities.

In fact, the banking bailout initiated by New Labour prime minister Gordon Brown wasn’t confined to a single bank — the entire private banking system was salvaged by the state.