Bank debt scandal - We’ve been too weak for far too long

It is almost an article of faith that a long, ultra-patient game is the best way to convince the EU and the ECB to reduce or, God forbid, cancel the €64bn private debt imposed on taxpayers to cover failed banking investments and to steady what was a staggering euro.

This debt, and we must never forget this or let Europe forget it, had nothing to do with us. It came about because private money risked by private investors in private banks was lost. Had the bet been profitable every trick in the executive-lounge game book would have been stretched to illegality to minimise payments to the exchequer now expected to rescue those who got it so very wrong.

It is hard to think of a peacetime imposition on a small country, especially one assured that its interests are best served by being part of the community of nations that imposes the horrific burden, that is as dishonest, as unjust, or, simply, as immoral.