Moreover the historian Mark Mazower has suggested it's no coincidence that Britain was far more eager to partake in it than those mainland European countries which experienced occupation and had learnt the painful way just how precious social cohesion and how tricky it is to repair after it's been damaged.

Also while I'm here, have you seen this article by Adam 'Always worth reading' Curtis?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/2010/02/the_economists_new_clothes.html

thanks for replying and thanks also for the information on the BoE.

I found myself agreeing with everything you wrote. So I'm not sure we disagree. Maybe I just didn't write what I thought very clearly. I think in reality, as you say, people do want to contribute to a larger good and don't JUST want to work for the money only. But the society we have built often gives people no choice.

We are not all happy with a state of affairs where our values are at odds with the economic choices we are forced to accept.

Then again, the kind of bankers we are talking about are so rich that they do have a choice but the majority of us, while having social and moral values, have to work purely for money to pay the bills.