The Best Of - Foreword - 2009

Sep 28, 2026

Uploaded by Marglet

Foreword to The Best Of (2009) by Charles Peattie and Russell Taylor, reflecting on the City’s long arc since 1987 and the return of banker headlines after the financial crisis. It contrasts earlier hopes that the credit crunch might bring correction with fears that the crisis has only been “playing dead.” The text satirically examines regulators, politicians, and taxpayers, arguing that blame is avoided, bonuses persist, and Alex and fellow bankers prepare to return to business as usual.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryStory & Novel

FormatPDF

Pages84

Reading Time2 h 9 min

AccessFree to download

FOREWORD

From 1987 to the present

Credit crunch, financial instruments, and satire

Taxpayer rescue, regulators, and bonuses

Returning to business as usual

# The Best Of . To Daunlou人 The Best Of 2009 al uers0poidQvudouds1 写usteeicQ Charles Peattie &Russell Taylor # The Best Of 2009 Copyright 2008-2009 Charles Peattie and Russell Taylor The right of Charles Peattie and Russell Taylor to be identified as the Authors of the Workhas been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright,Designs and Patents Act 1988. First Published in 2009 by MASTERLEY PUBLISHING All rights reserved.No part of this publication may be reproduced,stored in a retrievalsystem,or transmitted,in any form or by any means without the prior written permissionof the publisher,nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than thatin which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequentpurchaser. Layout and Artwork:Suzette Field ISBN:978-1-8537574-5-7 Printed in the UK by CPI William Clowes Beccles NR347TL Our usual gratitude goes to our generous sponsors: FTSE Group -provider of global equity,fixed income,alternativeasset class,responsible investment &investment strategy indices;and Mondo Visione -the leading source of insight and knowledgeabout the world’s exchanges and trading venues. # FOREWORD The City has come full circle.Back in 1987,when we started writing Alex,Yuppie bankers weremaking headlines for their greed,insensitivity,arrogance and recklessness.And now-we aresomewhat depressed to say,having spent two decades engaged in what we can now see was totallyfutile satire on these people -they have been back on the front pages again,for all the samereasons. At the time of writing the City seems unsure as to whether the economic crisis engendered bysub-prime loans and the credit crunch has suddenly somehow just gone away.Have the bankersby some implausible miracle escaped certain annihilation?Or is the financial crisis,like an 80sHollywood movie villain,only playing dead and poised to leap for their throats again at anymoment? Many satirists,observers,commentators and essentially anyone who didn't earn large bonusesfrom making highly leveraged punts on the stock market going up,had been thinking that thecredit crunch was quite a good thing.Obviously as participants in the global capitalist system wedidn’t actually want to be propelled back to feudal times,but some sort of a correction seemedoverdue.And when all those CDOs,SPVs and other complex financial instruments that the Cityhad been paying themselves huge bonuses for swapping back and forth proved to be worthless wecouldn't help thinking of the fable of the Emperor's New Clothes. What we didn't foresee was that the Emperor,having been publicly mocked for his stupidity andvanity,would come to the conclusion that he actually didn't mind being naked,just so long ashe could keep on being Emperor.Alex and his fellow bankers seem to be preparing to go back tobusiness as usual.Well,who can blame them?Nothing particularly bad has happened to them.The taxpayer stumped up to save their jobs,the regulators decided that imposing any form ofimplementable legislation would render London uncompetitive as a global financial centre andour politicians adjudged that the sense of shame at having been bailed out would be sufficientto prevent the City from ever being so irresponsible again(despite that the fact that the word"shameless"was invented to describe investment bankers).And they even got to keep gettingthose bonuses. So whereas at one point it seemed like there might be no need(and indeed no market)for the Bestof Alex 2010,it now looks like it's back to business as usual for us financial satirists too.Andnopefully we'll make a more successful job of it over the next twenty years.. Charles Peattie and Russell Taylor

FAQs

What period does the foreword compare when discussing the City’s behavior?

It looks back to 1987, when the authors began writing Alex, and contrasts that with the situation at the time of this 2009 foreword.

How does the foreword view the credit crunch’s long-term impact?

It questions whether the crisis has truly gone away, suggesting it may be “playing dead” and ready to return.

What does the foreword say about why bankers can resume business as usual?

It attributes resilience to taxpayer-funded bailouts, regulators avoiding implementable legislation, politicians prioritizing competitiveness, and the continued ability to receive bonuses.

Sep 28, 2026

Uploaded by Marglet