The general contempt in which bankers are held is justified.

Their greed and stupidity were the primary and operative causes of the credit crunch. Greed, however reprehensible, is at least part of a banker’s job description, but the stupidity, coming from some of the cleverest people on the planet, is inexcusable.

Having been saved by a humiliating bail-out with tax-payers’ money, they returned to their old ways almost immediately. However, our objection is not to the “bonus culture” – payment by results is right in principle, if not always in practice.

History teaches us that we should always beware of politicians taking advantage of strong public emotions to boost their own popularity. The British government has imposed an unworkable “bonus tax” on bankers. President Obama triggered a slump on Wall Street by suggesting that America’s banks should be broken up.

When “celebrities” – including some of the dimmest people on the planet – start climbing on the bandwagon, calling for a “Robin Hood tax” on banks, it is time for more thoughtful people to set aside their own antipathy toward bankers and apply some calm logic to the situation.

Much as we may hate saying it, we need banks. The Industrial Revolution and the astonishing growth in the prosperity of the West over the last 300 years would have been impossible without the development of the modern banking system. If the West does not want big banks anymore, they will go elsewhere, taking their power and their money with them. Since countries like the UK have made themselves effectively uncompetitive in manufacturing, financial services are a large, increasing, and essential part of their GDPs.

This is why the Western governments held their noses and bailed the banks out in 2008 – and why they would be foolish to reverse that by driving them out now.