Greedy bankers, clueless police, lying politicians. Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, sometimes says the wrong thing at the wrong moment.
But when he spoke at Christmas Midnight Mass about the breakdown in trust which has resulted from the credit crunch, the nation as well as his congregation knew exactly what he meant.
Few of us understand money, and so we entrust whatever we have got to those who are supposed to do so - politicians and bankers. When, in consequence of their folly or greed, we find both the nation's affairs and our own in desperate straits, the sense of betrayal goes very deep.
Trust is fundamental, not just to money, but to all human affairs. We need to believe that those in charge of all the institutions in our society know what they are doing, and tell us at least part of the truth about what is going on.
When they do not, the consequences are painful for all the relationships on which we depend.
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