George Kerevan: Not too late to save Bank of Scotland from rescue

FAMOUSLY, there was the US general in Vietnam who said he had to destroy a village in order to save it. I detect a similar contradiction when I hear talk about the government "rescuing" the Scottish banking system. As I understand it, this rescue includes the takeover of HBOS by Lloyds TSB, which will see the end of the Bank of Scotland as we know it, jobs lost in Edinburgh and the creation of a "super bank" based in the City of London with an unheard-of monopoly of power.

I was also critical of the original Bank of Scotland and Halifax merger. In 2001, I criticised the cull of Bank of Scotland senior executives and the danger that the culture of the Halifax end of the new business might dominate the new company. It di...