From Mr Richard Bethell-Jones.

Sir, The two main stories on your November 3 front page – “RBS and Lloyds aim for £54bn funding” and “Vicars’ pensions under threat” – give a curious insight into the way we live now. The poor old Church of England Pension Scheme is in deficit, with liabilities of £813m and assets of only £461m; so future pensions for clergy may have to be cut. Could the trustees wind up the scheme and throw the liability on to the Pension Protection Fund? Will the pensions regulator intervene? The deficit would be cured by an injection of £352m. That is a tiny amount compared with the taxpayer money that the government has thrown, and continues to throw, at the banks. The government will subscribe £5.9bn for shares and £7.5bn for innovative bonds in Lloyds alone.