Cyprus is slowly developing into a case study. Consider the following: there are private banks, with private shareholders, obviously going bust. The state (the community, the people) steps in and because of the size of the problem the state is facing bankruptcy. Even larger community (EU) steps in - and the condition is for THE PEOPLE not THE SHAREHOLDERS to cough up the money. This is hugely unpopular - and not surprisingly. Yet another example of 'private profit' and 'social losses'. When the wheeling and dealing was in a full swing the shareholders and CEOs profited. When profit collapsed the people paid. The capitalism as we knew it does not work: capitalism was supposed to reward success (which it still does) but punish failure (which it does not).

New paradigm is required - and is coming from nowhere. There is a void of what the new structure should be like, what the new markets should be like to deal with 'Cyprus case'. And Lib Dems are supremely well positioned to fill the void. Not having the ideological baggage of 'free market', or 'worker's right', we should drive and develop the new concepts answering the problems of the current not functioning market (and economy). We just need to develop the message. The role of 'sovereign wealth fund' - a solution Cyprus is now looking at - might be one such idea.

Finally a piece of good news: Barclay's chief was just awarded 18 million pounds. It is nice to know that all of us saved such a worthy individual when we bailed out the banks and banking systems. By 'all of us' I really mean 'all' - from the past, present and future. All of us from the past because it is the savers whose saving paid for the Quantitive Easing , the present 'all' are the earners whose tax burden is increasing despite the Chancellors rhetoric and it will be the savers and earners from the future who will pay for our still increasing debt as somebody has to pay for the debts created to save the banks. No doubt Rich Ricci now will pay back the community what the community paid him.

(There is an interesting twist in the story. The reward was 'paid in shares', the very same shares which were saved from collapse by the taxpayer. And he was not alone: the windfall was part of a £40million shares payout to nine bigwigs at Barclay's bank)

George Šmíd