Socialism, said Winston Churchill, is the ‘equal sharing of misery.’ No doubt he would have been confounded by a half-capitalist, half-socialist sharing scheme cooked up by Portman Capital and taken up by the UK’s Liberal Democratic deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg.

The boutique bank’s Michael O’Connor and James Conway proposed last spring that London distribute the shares it acquired—for £66 billion ($106 billion) — rescuing Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group to the 46 million adults on Britain’s electoral rolls. For free.

The idea was to recoup the public’s investment and let taxpayers benefit from any increase in the shares’ value. Conservative PM David Cameron was decidedly cool to the idea, however, not only on ideological grounds but also because of the daunting cost.

“Our plan isn’t expensive compared to the alternative of mandating investment banks to sell the government’s stakes in the banks,” protests O’Connor.

Nevertheless, his and Conway’s latest recommendation for helping Britain with its troubled finances is not as radical (and has in fact been on the Coalition government’s agenda): securitizing some or the UK’s £24 billion student loan book.