I heard on the lunchtime news today that Gordon Brown is to press for a complete overhaul of the governance system for the global banking system. One question this raises, given the current state of our own domestic banking system, is whether anyone will rush to take the advice of someone who, as Chancellor, presided over its governance for the last decade. Presumably Mr Brown will be recommending that, if and when crises arise, governments and regulators should act in concert, not in conflict.
Unfortunately, there again, his advice may not be entirely welcome: there has also been quite a bit of media coverage recently of Mr Brown's reaction to the Icelandic banking crisis... a web search on the following will point you towards further reading: "Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001, Iceland".
You may be wondering what the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act has to do with Icelandic banks... and so does much of the coverage. According to this article on the BBC site, the Act allows for foreign assets held in the UK to be frozen
'if the Treasury "reasonably believe" that "action to the detriment of the United Kingdom's economy (or part of it) has been or is likely to be taken by a person or persons, or action constituting a threat to the life or property of one or more nationals of the United Kingdom..."' [here's a link to the relevant section of the Act]
The Icelanders are, needless to say, both bewildered and insulted that the step has not only been taken, but taken in a spirit of some acrimony and aggression, and under legal provisions which equate them to terrorists. Bear in mind that the ATCSA was passed a scant 3 months after the September 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center.
It's a salutory lesson illustrating the principle that, once a power is on the statue books, its use is governed by current expediency, and not by whatever motivation put it there in the first place.
That, in turn, is a sobering thought as the government sets out its plans for collection, on a massive scale, of internet, landline, mobile phone and email traffic data.
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