How about halting all that junk mail, particularly the offers of cheap money to those who can't afford to pay it back?

And while we're at it, what about handing ourselves a hefty bonus this year? We may not deserve it, nor be able to afford it, but neither were the rich bankers justified in putting their noses in the trough even though their balance sheets were under severe strain.

Seriously, the rules of the banking game are about to change now that the Government has a 58% controlling stake in Royal Bank of Scotland and is likely to end up with 43.5% of a combined Lloyds TSB and HBOS. Together with Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley you and me are sitting on assets worth twice Britain's GDP.

It's ironic that a Labour Government that went through so much hand-wringing to rid itself of Clause 4 has been forced into nationalising the banks, a proposal which formed part of Labour's much-derided 1983 general election manifesto.

Interventionism was never part of either Tony Blair or Gordon Brown's plans, nor those of Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, when they were creating New Labour in the early 1990s.

Now Mandelson is said to have drawn up a list of businesses and industries that are important enough to be saved by the Government through state aid.

Setting aside the tongue-incheek suggestions above, the Government does now have the opportunity to give the consumer more power over the distribution of money. Urging the banks to lend, or to go easy on repossessions, should be among the items on that agenda.

While the Government intends that the banks return fully to the private sector (and that will take some considerable time), it must be hoped that the current mood of ultra-caution is not allowed to stifle risk-taking of the right kind.

The banks have over-indulged on cheap money, leveraging themselves to the hilt and taking us all down with them, but there must come a time when they once again show some sense of adventure. We require them to do so as one way of averting the need for further capital injections from the taxpayer.

Huge rate cut should create some interest

A FURTHER cut in interest rates is expected this week and it could be as much as 1%. Even when rates were high a cut of this magnitude would have prompted some excitement. So the thought that we could see a 30% fall in one fell swoop indicates the depth of the crisis we are in.

While the full impact of rate cuts takes months to fully kick in, it may boost the morale of shoppers and hard-pressed retailers, though nothing can be taken for granted.

As we report today, one store is offering 95% discounts. It won't be long before it is inviting shoppers to take products away and to help themselves to any loose change left
in the till.

With this sort of offer, who needs a 2.5% cut in VAT? The Chancellor clearly believed it would stimulate a spending spree and save some stores from collapse.

But it won't make a jot of difference as shoppers continue to defy all attempts to part with their money. Instead, he has merely denied the Treasury £12.5bn of revenue with nothing in return and that shortfall, at a critical time for the public finances, will be difficult to replace.

The retail slowdown that has brought Woolworths and MFI to their knees could tip over into a fullblown crisis. Problems at Woolworths were hardly a shock as the company has for years been caught betwixt and between the out-of-town supermarkets and the in-town convenience stores.

There was a time when Woolworths sold everything from a bag of fertiliser to a pound of bacon. Nowadays it's only known for pick 'n' mix, toys and DVDS. No wonder it makes all its profits in the months running up to Christmas.

So who will buy it? There is said to be a fair bit of interest. Iceland and Tesco are among potential buyers, but mainly for the stores rather than the intrinsic business which appears to have no future
beyond the festive season.

It doesn't bode well for the traditional high street which has not been helped by Government and local authority enthusiasm for dreary out-of-town malls and retail parks with their featureless walkways, windblown car parks and look-alike fashion stores.

Somehow, I'm beginning to miss Woolworths. Pity I rarely visited one.

tmurden@scotlandonsunday.com