When bankers were good
Yes, there was a time when this was so, as Ian Hislop's fascinating documentary about Victorian philanthropy demonstrates. It's available on BBC iPlayer until Thursday 1st December and it's an hour well spent, particularly if you're working in business and wanting to do good.
The 'moral compass' that existed in the Victorian era is ridiculed now, in part is for good reason, but Hislop's concluding statement should shake us out of the complacency with which we blame the bankers, the 'other' who assuage our guilt:
The 'moral compass' that existed in the Victorian era is ridiculed now, in part is for good reason, but Hislop's concluding statement should shake us out of the complacency with which we blame the bankers, the 'other' who assuage our guilt:
"Maybe societies get the bankers they deserve. Somehow, we accepted that greed was good and that probity, conscience, philanthropy, do-gooding were boring, old fashioned Victorian values. Perhaps we were wrong."