WE as a nation are up to our necks in debt because of the utter irresponsibility of the bankers and others in the financial services industries, lending stupid amounts to those who had not an earthly chance of repaying, then parcelling up the bad debts and selling them on, pigs in a poke, as sound assets to other banks and financial instutions as a sort of money-go-round, awarding themselves ever larger bonuses in the process, the worst evil of performance related pay.

When the inevitable implosion came and it all collapsed as a house of cards, the British Government had to pump in thousands of millions of pounds to prevent the imminent destruction of the banking system, along with people's savings, jobs and assets. The Tories would have done nothing and just let it all self-destruct, along with most of the remaining economy. Now they have the gall to criticize the Government for the size of the debts incurred in preventing a devastating financial collapse.

The biggest insult is that the top people in the banks and elsewhere, ultimately responsible for this mess, are most unlikely ever to be supporters or members of New Labour. Most likely they were Tories to a man. Do we really want those responsible for this disaster and their friends to be entrusted running the nation?