Palle, Palle, Palle

The arms of the Arte del Cambio - the bankers' guild to which the Medici belonged - were incorporated into the arms of that greatest of renaissance families, with which Florence and Tuscany are emblazoned from side to side and end to end. The enormous wealth generated by the codification of banking - the big bang that gave birth to the Rinascimento, and the culture of the West, gave too, the war cry of the Florentines when their city and their culture were under attack.

Once more the banks are called upon to defend us from the assaults of statists and authoritarians.

HSBC, HSBC, HSBC doesn't have quite the same ring - but the resounding 'balls!' the independent banks are giving to Brown and his puppet, as they try to reinflate their burst bubbles, warm the cockles of my anglo-florentine heart.