City's fed up with being everyone's whipping boy

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For many City workers, the sight of police not preventing rioters smashing up the Threadneedle Street branch of Royal Bank of Scotland and daubing the Bank with graffiti was infuriating. While nobody doubted the bravery of officers there was the feeling too much leniency had been shown.

The City was always likely to be targeted but the choice of the Excel centre a few miles to the east as the summit venue has not helped. Quite why the G20 leaders were not gathered farther afield, such as Hampton Court or Windsor Castle, is baffling. Did Gordon Brown rub the City's noses in it still further by choosing the venue for talks on the failure of capitalism smack-bang next to its epicentre? That was certainly the mood in the Square Mile. To then have to dress down and scuttle past lines of largely impassive police and protesters declaring their hatred only added to a sense of alienation. Having to board up shops amid a recession was also absurd. The last thing the capital needed was two days of disruption but that's what Brown gave it. Of course, he got his photocalls but why was central London and the City made to suffer so?

Still, it wasn't all gloom. City traders never miss a chance for a wager, so were quick to bet on the numbers arrested, with Bloomberg quoting a spread of 130-140.