Bankers’ humility leaves the politicians trailing

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So what's the final tally? In my own totally unscientific scoring system (out of five points) I believe it should be — bankers three, PRs two, public opinion two and politicians nil.

The bankers did a fair job. Yes, they got us in this mess but they seem to be getting out of it faster than might have been expected. Their results presentations were robust but there were also some indications of humility.

The PRs had a stormer. Barclays spinners kicked it off with John Varley and Bob Diamond giving up their bonuses, even though their bank made a profit and took no Government money.

Stephen Hester at RBS was quick to recognise he had to fall in line and Eric Daniels caved in a bit later. At HSBC and Standard Chartered the chief executives' bonuses will go to charity — personal decisions which did the corporates no harm whatsoever. Public outrage which could have been fearsome was assuaged.

As for the politicians: a resounding "nil points".

Chancellor Alistair Darling failed to say thank you for the hundreds of millions of pounds extra he got in bankers' bonus tax. Vince Cable continued to sound like a cracked 78. And George Osborne displayed his ignorance of the City yet again stating that "people would not understand" why RBS had to pay £1.3 billion in bonuses.

Doesn't he want RBS to be a strong bank when he comes to flog it off again?