SO HSBC isare considering moving out of Britain. Fine by me.

I always understood that you need a licence to run a bank.

Time for that to be revoked – on the grounds that they are moaning about paying their taxes and preparing to make thousands redundant.

They should be instructed to hand over all the deposited cash, perhaps to a conglomerate run by the redundant workers – 8,000 of them, apparently.

And police should seize their assets – branches, headquarters, homes and vehicles of directors –as surety until the money has been handed over.

Their claim that they are a Hong Kong company with no connection with Britain is of course disprovable nonsense.

Somewhere beneath the surface is the old Midland Bank, and I can remember as a small boy going to find out how far round their interminable Saturday queues my father had got.

In fact, mum had often finished her shopping before he got served.

It is time bankers learned to do as they are told and to accept the rules of society.

If that means no one outside the UK is allowed into the industry so be it; They should be a public service, not a money-making machine.

For years, I never used banks, only building societies, until the greedy changed them.

Perhaps it is time for all of us to switch to their successors, the Credit Unions.

Perhaps they at least will be willing to believe who we are, without ripping up our driving licences or losing our passports.