YOU can tell it's the silly season when politicians turn on the indignation at institutions normally safe from attack.

Today, it's the turn of the national banks to be savaged in a report that brings them to account for various matters.

The Cruikshank report has discovered that some banks are making millions of pounds of excess profit and although there has been progress in some areas, small business customers feel that they cannot switch their accounts with confidence.

There will be many firms in the Worcester area that will have some empathy with this viewpoint.

One idea mooted today is that the banks should allow more competition between them by inventing a "portable credit" scheme. This would allow small businesses to shop around for the best deal without the worry that something will go terribly wrong in the ensuing transfer which would damage their company.

Another area of concern is the way credit cards are managed by the banks and the lack of "transparency" of the various calculation involved in working out the APR.

What this all adds up to is good ideas from the report, but little progress in implementation.

But what is strange is that all this is happening now. Call this paper cynical, but is it a coincidence that this is happening in a week when national news of any weight is thin?

After all, the MPs are on safe ground. There are few things that the public like less than politicians. One is the vision of "greedy" institutions.

So a bit of bank bashing comes in handy to keep the profile high.