Banks

Another spectacular financial scandal - according to the BBC, Madoff appears to have been shopped by his own sons, so I don't suppose Christmas will be that joyful in the Madoff household this year.

I particularly liked the words of another hedge fund boss, who said, "It appears that at least $15bn of wealth, much of which was concentrated in southern Florida and New York City, has gone to money heaven." His Ponzi scheme isn't original, but the scale of it is (many more billions than 15 have gone missing).

It would be funny to see that so many banks were completely taken in by the scam, if it wasn't for the fact that it's inevitably the customers - and, in the case of RBS, the tax-payers - who will end up paying for it. By chance, Niall Ferguson's Channel 4 series, The Ascent of Money, covered this very scheme last week. The programme, which is well-worth watching, points out that to understand today's financial mess, you have to know a bit about the history - shame the banks weren't watching.