What joy, another entrant in the not-think tank stakes

We're just so terribly fortunate to have another entrant in the non-think tank stakes here in London. Welcome to Philip Blond and ResPublica! The last time we looked at these two and their proposals they were suggesting that this Social Credit idea from Major Douglas might be a good idea and then hinting that perhaps Belloc and Chesterton were pretty good economists too. At least one reviewer of this combination pointed out that this was in fact the Fascists economic program: and the real Fascist economic program, not just the usual insult to be bandied about for anyone you don't like.

Recovering from this they've made a new suggestion:

An oath for bankers should be introduced to raise accountability and standards in banking, said the think tank ResPublica.

It said the lack of public trust in banking after numerous scandals was an "ongoing concern" for the industry and the government.

In a new report, ResPublica called for an oath for bankers to "fulfil their proper moral and economic purpose".

Well, yes. We know very well that nearly all people in modern society live in mortal fear of being an oath breaker, don't we? Most unlike olden days when no one believed in an afterlife of the threat of the devil waiting to boil those who broke their word. Most unlike. And of course Harold Shipman would have been stopped in the tracks of his rampage if only doctors did take that Hippocratic Oath.

But maybe Blond has actually got something here. Think how many choirboys would be unsullied if only the Catholic Church insisted that priests took an oath of chastity?