THE ETHICAL ROAD TO DECADENCE IS LITTERED WITH POT HOLES.

For many years here in Britain, the Co-operative Bank has been masquerading as ethical, with dazzling green credentials.Well! This 'holier than thou' outfit has this year hit the buffers. Initially, the problem appeared to be one of debt alone, following the acquisition of the Britannia Building Society. It now transpires that Britannia brought this debt with them, but problems have since then compounded, escalating into an abundance of sleaze. The central character in this debacle is Reverend Paul Flowers, a Methodist Minister, or was until last week. Richard Littlejohn of the Daily Mail would say he is straight from central casting.

Flowers is a man with considerable form, whose world fell apart while, as Chief Exec. of the said Co-op Bank, was filmed doing a deal for hard drugs: Crack cocaine, crystal meth and ketamine. The 'sting' appears to have been handled by one of his male prostitute acquaintances. This former Methodist minister, more than likely, included all these activities on his expenses. His track record over a period of two decades include  positions on the boards of a number of charities, most of whom are looking at his considerable expenses. He had to resign his position as a local Labour Councillor in Bradford, due to his downloading of porn on the council owned computer. This reason was not disclosed at the time; the preferred line was that his high flying job at the Bank was too time consuming.

The plot thickens. He was for years operating close to the hierarchy of the Labour Party, arranging low interest rate loans, which never expect to be honoured by this rancid bunch of 'pinkos'. In addition, the Bank also sponsors a number of Labour MPs. Flowers was also acting as a business and financial adviser to this motley crew of inept economic neophytes.

The extraordinary aspect of this disastrous tale of woe is that it was sanctioned by another arm of socialism, the Financial Services Authority, an institution created by Gordon 'Incapability' Brown, during the last calamitous Labour administration. How can a single person, without any specific qualifications, flit from one well reimbursed position to another? The answer, presumably, is that Marxism creates a suitable atmosphere for this pantomime of events.

THE REAL PROBLEM, HOWEVER, IS THAT THE LABOUR PARTY WILL PROBABLY FORM THE NEXT GOVERNMENT.