Ok so it’s not exactly a gift but it is better that a poke in the eye.

For all the flack the undisputed king of investment banking has been receiving lately, at least someone will be celebrating its presence. Goldman Sachs is expected to contribute more than £2billion to Britain’s depleted public finances this year as profits and bonuses rebound to boom-era levels. As if Darling Alistair and friends really needed an excuse to get their love affair with the City back on track.

The Wall Street giant is facing a 2009 UK corporation tax bill far in excess of last year’s £1.1billion after seeing huge earnings during the first half.

And despite the lovers’-tiff-like sniping from angry impotent ministers the Treasury is set to reap a further £1.1billion income tax windfall from Goldman’s 5,500 City workers, who are set to earn an average of around £500,000 in pay and bonuses this year. Nice.