Since the days of Moses, societies have commonly taken the view that the scale of punishment for a misdeed should be in proportion to the severity of the offence. Or, to put it more lyrically: "Let the punishment fit the crime."

But the court of media opinion is less reliable than the court of law and recent days have seen an outpouring of UK opinion that today's bankers should pay for the mistakes of yesterday's bankers by getting their bonuses docked.