Sir, - In the Middle Ages, they were burned at the stake as usurers. Nowadays, their portion is wealth and public esteem though their avarice, duplicity and knavish treachery would leave their counterparts from those earlier times aghast with awe and admiration.
Revelations about their fraudulent practices and unctuous fawning to powerful people leave them unruffled. They could not care less. All that matters to them is the cash.
No financial expert has ever been able to explain to me why the banks and financial institutions in general should not be nationalised. Better this vast wealth in the hands of the public than in a few greasy paws. - Yours, etc.,
Gerry O'Malley, Old Conna Village, Bray, Co Wicklow.