Financial regulator and top bankers should have their rice bowls broken

THERE’S an old Chinese proverb about not breaking another man’s rice bowl. It should be applied in many cases to public demands for people to be removed from their jobs.

Often the full facts are not available to those making claims that could destroy somebody’s career and livelihood and have major consequences for his or her family. There are few things more ugly than a mob baying for blood, even if metaphorically.

But there are times when the weight of evidence and the issues involved make it clear that change is required, no matter how upsetting that is to those who are in the public firing line.