Major Questions Of The Day

I have spent much of the day putting together the questions for this evening's Rock Tavern Pub Quiz. One is always tempted to just take the first fifty questions out of the nearest Pub Quiz book, but this can be a dangerous strategy as so many published questions are simply wrong. Thus, to avoid the embarrassing situation where you find yourself trying to defend the wrong answer to a misleading question (hey Gordon, I know how you feel, pal), I always try to double-check each question and answer myself.

All this can be a fairly lengthy and boring task, so to pass the time I have been watching the BBC News Channel as it charts the fall of capitalism. The surprising thing, of course, is not that the international banking system is in meltdown, but that the plague of self-denial that has been such a contributory factor, still persists. The General Manager of what used to be HBOS (which, in turn, used to be the Halifax Building Society) was interviewed on local television last night about the potential consequences for Halifax of the takeover by Lloyds-TSB. He refused to say anything about the employment consequences of the takeover which, in itself, is perhaps understandable. But he went on to deny that the rescue emerged out of a period of panic and desperation and claimed that the business model that HBOS and the other banks had been working to was a sound and secure one. In response to such obtuseness, I decide to add an extra round to tonight's quiz. It will be entitled "Major Questions of the Day" and for those who want to play along at home, here are the questions. Qu 51 : What are the consequences of recklessly extending cheap, unsecured credit to people who clearly cannot afford to repay their debts? (A) Larger year-end bonuses for senior bank officials; (B) Increased sales of very expensive cars; (C) The eventual collapse of the banking system as we know it? (Note : more than one answer will be correct) Qu 52 : A fall of 80% in your share price indicates that: (A) You have been doing something wrong; (B) Your shareholders have been doing something wrong; (C) Nothing is wrong? Qu 53 : Which planet are most major bankers living on?