I work for a US bank in London and have just been given a bonus for 2008, which was 60 per cent of my 2007 bonus. It is a sign of the respect my managers have for me and I am grateful for it. However, my bank has received billions of dollars from the US government, so that my bonus is being paid for by taxpayers – which seems wrong. What should I do? Give it back? Give it to charity? Resign? Or keep it on the grounds that the bank is entitled to pay staff what it needs to keep them?
Banker, male, 35
LUCY'S ANSWER
It is a sign of how low your trade's reputation has fallen that most Financial Times readers assume I've made you up. A banker with a conscience is not a creature they can understand.