I heard the best description of investment banking the other day - " the difference between a commercial bank and investment bank is compound interest - something we all learnt at 11, and then promptly forgot.  It does not take long to re-learn it".  Last week,  the Royal Bank of Scotland announced their results and, again, their justification for the payment of bonuses in order to keep talent.  I know there are those who say that the days of banker bashing should be over and that, RBS, in particular should be given a bit of breathing space.
But really, when any bank pays its staff more and more, there is less and less for investors and savers - there is a direct connection.  And in the case of RBS, it is compounded by the fact that the tax payer is also paying for it.  And it seems extraordinary that we accept that a commodities trader or an repo deal arranger is worth so very, very more than the person who designs how to get clean water into my house, or that organises the smooth of running thousands of tube trains and millions  of commuters every day in London, or the person who engineers a wind turbine. 
Banking is a utility that should be there to preserve the value of the investments that have been entrusted to them in good faith.  Done properly and responsibly, it will earn bankers a decent salary but not exorbitant bonuses.  Doing properly and responsibly requires a different kind of talent  and a different motivation.  At Charity Bank, there is fixed ratio of 9:1 between the highest and lowest paid which,  at the moment, is at just over 6:1.  Let's have some more of that, please.