Absolutely disgusting,and to be honest I can't say I am that surprised. Rewards for gross incompetence and failure seem to be a bench mark of the banking industry.They should pay an 80% windfall tax on all bonus payments,and the money used to put the people they have thrown out of work back into work.Corporation tax should be increased to 80% and levied against all banks who have off-shored their call centres.

I think it's about time we started to look after our own economy,or we ain't gonna have one.

What gets me going is the fact that Lloyds and expecially the RBS have been rescued and taken over on our behalf by the government. We own RBS. We own Lloyds. Yet the supine regulators allow these gangsters - 'banksters' - to award themselves huge bonuses. This isn't right. It's time the whole rotten usurious system was swept away and replaces by a fairer system not based on endless debt.

It is grossly unfair that these arrogant banksters, preening themselves with self-congratual tion, are still bleeding the ordinary British workers dry. They get balied out. Workers find themselves out of jobs and often out of their homes too.

First of all, can I say Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all Solidarity members and supporters in Ulster and Eire.

Secondly, I’d like to belatedly wish a Happy St. David’s Day (1st March) to all Solidarity members and supporters in Wales (Cymru) and a belated Happy St Piran's Day (5th March) to all Solidarity members and supporters in Cornwall (Kernow).

Now onto this subject of the banks.

In my view the big banks are all rip-off merchants. I understand that they can ‘loan’ out 13 times what they have in reserve. They then charge interest on this loan! (How can they do this?)

I think it’s clear that what is needed is a fairer and saner banking system. The banks should be run as a service and not a money making exercise. Also they shouldn’t be allowed to charge interest on loans (usury).

One practical alternative to the banks is the Credit Union. These are financial co-operatives owned and controlled by their members. They offer savings and loans.

Credit Unions are not perfect – they still charge interest. However, typically it’s only around the 1% mark. What this means for example is that if you borrowed £1000 over 1 year, you would repay no more than £1067 in total. That’s well within the reach of the average working man and woman.

There are a couple of other alternatives to the banksters:

Zopa - which means 'zone of possible agreement' – is an on-line system whereby members can meet, agree a rate and lend or borrow from each other. Zopa describes itself as the “human way of getting a low cost loan. Rather than making the fat cats fatter you pay interest to real people.”

The Islamic banking system. Islamic institutions steer clear of the money markets. They only raise funds through depositors and shareholders. Islam also forbids usury.