If that’s what the best and brightest can come up with, we’re toast!

Sir, Gillian Tett, in “Banking may lose its allure for the best and brightest” November 1, mentions “government does not control finance as tightly as it did in the 1930s”. But, let me assure her that back in those days, no government would ever dream of assuming the role of risk-manager for the world and dole out risk-weights which determine different capital requirements for bank assets based on perceived risks. 

Ms Tett also writes of “a possible silver lining for policy makers” namely that the best and brightest after the failure of the financial sector can now flock into other fields such as manufacturing or medicine. But in this respect should we not begin by understanding better why the best and brightest failed so miserably... before giving them new assignments?