RBS pension cuts for 60,000 make Goodwin’s pay-off still harder to swallow - Carmichael

"This will doubtless be bad news for many employees in Scotland, and makes the Government's inability to stop Goodwin's substantial pay-off all the more difficult to swallow," said the Liberal Democrat Shadow Scotland Secretary. Commenting on the news that RBS is to cap increases in the pensions of over 60,000 workers, Alistair Carmichael said:

“Considering Fred Goodwin managed to get away with much of his massive pension despite his catastrophic management of what was the UK’s largest bank, it seems a little tough that it is those whose jobs he endangered who have to make savings.

“It is right that a state-owned bank such as RBS should look at what savings it can make. But any belt-tightening should start at the top.

“This will doubtless be bad news for many employees in Scotland, and makes the Government's inability to stop Goodwin's substantial pay-off all the more difficult to swallow.”

PM Brown is in Danger of Calling the Kettle Black

Prime Minister Gordon Brown is gunning after national scapegoat Sir Fred Goodwin because of the obscene pension he will be getting despite the massive failure of RBS, the bank he was supposed to be running. He is threatening legal action to recover some of the reported £12million pension fund that Goodwin managed to build for himself over the ten or so years he was at the bank.

I'm not sure however that pursuing Goodwin is the most prudent thing Brown could possibly be doing right now. We all know why he's making a big thing about it. He is trying to divert public attention away from the billions of pounds that are required to bail out the banking system by instigating a good old fashioned mob lynching.

There are two problems I think Brown will create for himself by chasing Goodwin. The first is quite simply that Goodwin undoubtedly knows too much about the system and looks like he is going to stand up and defend himself against all attacks. In the cold light of day, he has done nothing it seems but follow the rules and play the system. It seems odd for me to be defending this man but he did not create the system, instead he worked it. Gordon Brown created it.

The second problem I think he could and should face if we are going to start taking away peoples pensions for abject failure is that he might end up facing questions over whether or not he should in fact keep his lovely little pot. The more I think about it in fact, the more that sounds like a good idea....Doh!!!

The Four Merchant Bankers of the Apocalypse

The word "Sorry", it occurs to me is just a word like every other word that appears on this screen. Some people are quite comfortable with it whilst others agonise over it as though their world would come to an end or perhaps be given a fresh beginning with its very utterance. Some people say things like "it takes a bigger man to apologise for their mistakes" although others will say that "you're better safe than sorry".

What occurs to me having watched the Four Bankers of the Apocalypse apologise on TV today is that they didn't appear to be suffering too much for their mistakes. Granted, they appeared on TV and all said the most difficult word in the English language to say. They faced questions about how the banking system failed and how bonus culture was in part to blame. They've even lost their jobs. However I cannot imagine for a moment that any of them will be close to losing their homes. I can't imagine for a moment that any of them will be shopping at Iceland, Lidl or Primark in the near future. The ones with knighthoods will undoubtedly retain their titles and as the credit crunch diminishes and the world economy starts to recover, their expansive share portfolios will undoubtedly begin to burst at the seams again. The only thing I am certain that they are sorry about is that they will not be recieving the salaries and bonuses they will now be missing out on due to the fact that they are no longer employed by the institutions they ruined. In fact they all looked fairly relaxed and comfortable in their surroundings.

The thing that made me angry though; the thing that made me want to tear off my shirt, turn green and save a beautiful woman from an evil scientist was that the young arse second from left in the photo above had the audacity to complain that his shares had lost more money than they had made. What a disaster for him that must have been. Poor guy, he only made £2 million odd last year and his shares have temporarily dropped in value. I am presuming that his friends in Cloud Cuckoo Land are sympathetic to his losses, but I fail to see why I or any one else for that matter should be. I would suggest that he offloads these awful shares at the earliest opportunity to a good cause like Great Ormond St Hospital or something. That way he will not have to complain and wine about his self inflicted misfortune like a little girl who's just broken the head off her dolly. What's more he will be free of his cursed losses.