I always find people's perception of scale quite interesting.  The discussions of the Big Society Bank yesterday were very welcome and, particularly, because it seems as though the feedback received from the sector has been taken seriously.   However, financing the whole of society on the basis of £60m will be the 21st century equivalent of the feeding of the five thousand.  It also pales into insignificance when the amount of money pumped into bolstering up business as usual in the mainstream banks is considered.
Again, I would point out that the banks in the social and ethical space have survived without any form of guarantees, bail out packages or liquidity injections.  They know what is needed to get socially useful banking off the ground and working for society as a whole.  It is what they do as their core business.  So, the next few months will be critical to see how this acorn of good news will grow and flourish.