As the City lurches from one explosive scandal to another, I feel as if I’m not so much working in a financial institution as playing a bit part in a horror movie.

If it’s not Fred the Shred’s pension, it’s those nauseating AIG bonuses, or Bernie Madoff’s reluctance to share details of his Ponzi alterniverse. And there is bound to be more dark drama in store. I suspect all sorts of Hollywood-style subplots will emerge in the months to come.

For instance, many insiders (myself included­) believe there was something sinister­ in the way Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns were deemed not “too big to fail”, while so many other banks got billions of taxpayers’ money. As one City colleague puts it: “There were scores to be settled.” Quite simply, Lehman and Bear had made enemies in powerful places.

Meanwhile, Madoff may be the celebrity face of greed, but booing him off the City stage won’t cure our unshakable­ money-grubbing culture.

Handcuffs, bonus caps and clawbacks may soothe the angry masses, but for each Madoff we capture, hundreds more small-time money-grabbers roam free.

And I should know… I work with them. There is a bit of Madoff in all bankers: talking bulls***, pretending we know it all, and grabbing every last pound without remorse. The most depressing aspect of the situation is not the existence of the odd mega fraudster such as Madoff, but the attitudes of the thousands of little players below.

A fever of entitlement still infects City bankers, even at a time when the laid-off would be thrilled to find any job.

I have friend at AIG, for instance, who got paid his bonus thanks to ­bailout money. Does he feel guilty? Will he give it back? Would you?

Instead, the guy cannot believe how little he received, and is thinking of taking his “talents” elsewhere. And where exactly would that be, I wondered... another bankrupt bank? McDonalds??

The idea of eliminating City greed delights the scandalmongers. Sadly, we’re about as likely to eradicate greed from the City as we are lust or envy.

You may find more entertainment these days watching Bloomberg News than blockbusters, but I can tell you from experience, while the City’s shocks and scandals seem like the stuff of a big-budget movie, living this life has lost all its Hollywood glamour.