The financial system in its current condition poses an existential threat to Western democracy far exceeding any terrorist threat.

The seven Ps: Proper Planning and Preparation Prevent Piss-Poor Performance

Sometimes, the only way of doing something is to do it.

We wouldn't care so much what people thought of us if we knew how seldom they did.

In other words, RBS had its origins in a failed speculation, a bail-out, and a financial crash so big it helped destroy Scotland's status as a separate nation.

It can be a way of knowledge, a path, an inspiration, a Tao, an ordering, a memory, a fantasy, a seduction, a prayer, a summoning, an incantation murmured under the breath as the torchlights sink lower and the forest looms taller and the wolves howl louder and the fire prepares for its submission to the encroaching dark.

But knowing that you had gone wrong, and knowing how you had gone wrong, were not the same thing as knowing how to put it right.