Danger of putting our faith in the City

Sir,- I was interested to read recently that staff at Lloyd’s of London are up in arms at the company’s ban on drinking alcohol during working hours.

After being in the business of managing our money for 300 years, and almost 10 years since the financial crash of 2008, when financiers almost bankrupted the world, it would seem that the City of London is finally beginning to recognise that dealing with the world’s finances after drinking alcohol is perhaps not a good idea.

It just shows what a different world these people inhabit. The rest of the world of work has had a ban on drinking during working hours for decades yet some in the City still consider it acceptable to go out and get plastered before tottering back to the office to gamble on the futures markets with our money.

What is even more surprising is that the regulators, who have allegedly put in place strict rules to protect investors from the reckless practices of the past, have not seen fit to require companies to ensure that their staff are in a fit state to do their jobs.

This is the sector of the UK economy which Theresa May’s Government has made its number one priority for protection in the forthcoming Brexit negotiations. Les Mackay. 5 Carmichael Gardens, Dundee.

Picture: Press Association. A portrait of Lord Nelson hangs in the Lloyd’s of London building.