Sir, It is disgraceful that the Government will give £500 billion of taxpayers’ money — our money — into the hands of the banks, the very institutions that created the economic crisis. If banks will not lend money to other institutions, then let them atrophy if they won’t perform their function of lending. Don’t bail them out.

Rather, let the Government directly support the real economy. Let it direct the £500 billion to supporting our pension funds and to bolstering our manufacturers, the ones that produce goods that provide employment to millions.

Let them lend the money to manufacturers on low rates of interest (or even interest free) so that salaries can be paid, and investment and research programmes developed, thereby oiling the wheels of real wealth creation. We do not want a fantasy world of speculation. We know where that seduction has taken us. We need to invest in the real economy.

Keith Turner

London E11

Sir, The amount of capital stashed away in overseas accounts is staggering (report, Oct 10), yet local councils et al plead poverty or sideline investment because they say their end-of-year budget is spent. Is this not ratepayers’ money that is there to improve local facilities rather than be buried on deposit?

I hesitate as a cleric to call it greed as there is a certain perceived prudence in seeking the best deal when loopholes, lower interest rates and invasive tax liabilities make investment or deposit accounts at home less attractive. Yet in a way it is a wake-up call to us all to use our votes better and if economics and stealth taxes at home queer the pitch, then vote them out until there is a more realistic deal.

The head-scratcher is allowing a system to lend more money than there is available.

The Rev Toddy Hoare

Holton, Oxon

Sir, Is there any point in the Government using taxpayers’ money to reimburse councils that have lost taxpayers’ money? Is this not the equivalent of rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic?

Bill Pickering

Uppingham, Rutland

Sir, The growing risk of the Icelandic banking system had been highlighted, in some cases, since early 2007. Warnings were passed on to many local authority financial managers, prompting some of them to stop investing in Iceland.

This raises the question of whether local authorities were given inappropriate advice, or were given advice that they chose to ignore.

Alex Orr

Edinburgh

Sir, If Scotland had already separated from the United Kingdom, would a Scottish Government have been able to offer support to HBOS and the Royal Bank of Scotland in the way the British Government has? Or would Scotland have gone the way of Iceland?

Lord Grabiner

House of Lords, SW1

Sir, I recall that, playing Monopoly as a child, the game would grind to a halt because all the players were overextended and no one had any cash. The simple solution was for the banker to give every player £1,000. Clearly, Alistair Darling had the same experience.

The Rev Dr Martin Dudley

London EC1

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