When, or if, he does eventually retire, the bank will be in safe hands: those of his 62-year-old chief executive, Charles Snipes, who is said to be even more frugal than his boss.

ECONOMIST: Small banks in America

Ms Williams raised concerns about the incidents which are occurring in hospitals when patients should be in safe hands and called on Carwyn Jones to "prioritise the spending" and "get to grips" with the situation.

BBC: First Minister's questions

Despite being one of the authors of Europe's Fiscal Compact (which aims to enforce public spending limits on EU members by law) the president has tried to insist that France's welfare state will be safe in his hands.

BBC: Nationalism looks set to remain on trend in France