From Dave, via Jamie, we get this charming vignette from Tory Fortunate Son, George Osborne:

The development has left the opposition party on the backfoot, as City regulation becomes a new political dividing line. “No one takes pleasure from people making money out of the misery of others but that is a function of capitalist markets,” Mr Osborne said.

I suppose you’ve got to admire his honesty*. From Thatcher through Blair to Brown none of them were actually going to admit it all this verbally and up front - actions speak louder after all. Still, good to be reminded what you’re up against now and again.

No mention of how to remove the misery from the equation you’ll notice from George. These lofty matters stand above conventional morality and the common herd quite clearly. Get used to it peasants - as if we haven’t been used it since Adam (Smith) were a lad.

As Jamie says, you have to imagine that the ‘people making money out of the misery of others’ take some pleasure in it. Or are the Porsches, cocaine, champagne, and thousand quid dinners a device to drown the guilt and the miserable cries of the ‘others’?

*Even though he’s not completely right. Here’s Tory trojan horse, Business Secretary John Hutton, taking immense pleasure from people making money out of the misery of others.