Our teenagers’ vampires might end up sucking our baby-boomer blood

Sir, Ms Gillian Tett commenting on the books current young read, like those with vampires, writes: “teenagers now face a world where boundaries are blurred… lines between childhood and adulthood, good and evil, friend and for, male or female are no longer clear cut”, “Teenage books with added bite” August 10.

That it is indeed scary stuff. Not so much because of boundaries being blurred, but for the fact that since humans cannot travel through life without some kind of boundaries, we are not really clear about what the new boundaries might look like… perhaps books on vampires going after baby-boomers’ blood will hit the charts soon?

But when we on the opposite side of the paper also find Christopher Caldwell having us pray not to fall in hands of a justice which allows “guilty rich people buying their way out of convictions and innocent rich people being shaken down by zealous prosecutors”, something for which we clearly must share somehow some blame for… we also know that such sucking our baby-boomer blood would not be totally undeserved, “Ecclestone’s cash tarnishes the court that sets him free”.

Where would our economies be without chancers, hustlers and other wheeler dealers?

Sir, John Gapper rightly nudges the question of where our economies would be without chancers, hustlers and other wheeler dealers, “Ecclestone is a chancer who has earned a final chance” August 7.

And though we would surely not like to see one of our daughters marrying one of these we regard as social misfits, there is no doubt that without them our economies would go stale.

Think of it. How much capital is currently not in action, giving jobs to many, only because someone convinced its owners of being able to make huge returns with no risks? Are we instead to have all our savings only safely increasing the value of the Picasso’s hanging on our walls? 

But, even so, I abhor the risk-weighted capital requirements for banks based on perceived credit risks. 

With these we are giving special access to bank credit to those who specialize in dressing up as “absolutely safe”… like the infallible sovereign entrepreneurs. 

But why would we want to withhold fair access to bank credit for the “risky” medium and small businesses, entrepreneurs and start-ups, with other type of knowledge and drive? That sounds like an unnecessary limitation which can’t really be good for anyone… in the long run.