We must hang on to values that made us great

THIS is a momentous day – for Scotland and the world. A banking system which stood for generations and of which we were so proud has been brought to its knees in a humiliating global catastrophe. Only massive capital injections by the UK government, and similar injections by other governments in their banks around the world, now stand between us and a collapse of the entire financial system.

It is especially momentous for Edinburgh. This is a city that has prospered for centuries on its skills and judgment in the field of banking. There is not a person going to work today who has not an immediate, direct and vital interest in seeing this...