Don't bank on it

As the song goes, you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone. I bear no love for any bank, but the news that the Bank of Scotland is essentially no more, a casualty of the recent turmoils in the financial markets, still saddens me. As an institution I've never lent it much consideration - it's just something that's always been there, perched high on it's impressive headquarters above the Mound in Edinburgh. It's ubiquity made it easy to take for granted - I've used it's branches, it's cash machines, and it's money without ever giving it a second thought. The notion that the Bank might one day cease to be, after several hundred years of existence, would have seemed absurd to me even a few weeks ago.

The loss of the bank Is certainly a blow for Edinburgh, and Scotland as a whole, considering the importance of banking to the country's economy. Labour have been trailing badly in the polls recently, and I doubt events of the past few days will improve their fortunes. I suspect voters will use the looming by-election to punish Gordon Brown for his part in the Bank of Scotland's demise, however indirect or unavoidable.

Several wags have commented in newspapers that it's headquarters would make a lovely hotel. Given it's prominent location in Edinburgh's famed skyline I suspect it's as likely to become a symbol of hubris and folly...