Bailing out overstretched banks was a costly feature of the global financial crisis. According to a Guardian newspaper story: Bank reforms: how much did we bail them out and how much do they still owe? the pay out for the United Kingdom was phenomenal:

"The headline figure is £456.33bn, down from £612.58bn in March 2010. The peak was a mighty £1.162 trillion. The total outstanding support is 31% of March's GDP."

Big numbers. The story has a graphic of what a measly £38 billion of that money might have bought instead, had it not been given to banks during the credit crunch. 1,520 schools anyone? 1,357 miles of motorway. Four London Olympics. The data behind this and related stories is available for download.