I was going to use a stronger word but I restrained myself. This weekend Harriet Harman said of Fred Goodwin's pension: "it might be enforceable in a court of law, this contract, but it is not enforceable in the court of public opinion and that is where the government steps in."
All stirring stuff, but I don't want the country turned into a place where the rule of law is ignored because of public opinion. Goodwin's pension makes me angry, particularly because so many others have had their own pensions damaged by the failures at RBS. But that does not mean we should ignore the law or advocate breaking the law.
Ms Harman is trying desperately to divert attention away from the fact that the Government had the chance to curtail Goodwin's pension and failed to do so. They simply screwed up.
Fighting words are pretty useless now.
WATCH: Boris Meets Will Smith
7 hours ago
Posts
4 comments:
£25,840,000.00.
No, it isn't Sir Fred Goodwin's latest pension entitlement - it's the total ANNUAL pension entitlement of the 646 Members of Parliament, who will all trouser an average pension of £40,000 a year until they die when booted out of office.
Yes, that's right - £25,840,000.00 a year of taxpayers money!
And they - after driving the country into the worst recession in living memory, engaging in a catastrophic and illegal war, effectively being complicit in the murder of our troops by penny-pinching and providing them with sub-standard equipment, and overseeing a huge rise in violent crime - have the cheek to demand Sir Fred Goodwin surrender his pension?
How about setting an example for these fat cat bankers to follow, my sleazy and corrupt Commons dwelling friends?
Good to see you managed to blog without swearing.
It is disgraceful that the government should be suggesting legislation specifically to fiddle Fred out of his pension, or suggesting that they simply do not pay his pension - it starts with the fat cats and ends up with every civil servant and postal worker in the country.
But perhaps it would be reasonable to limit any person's pension entitlement to more than 10 times average earnings, at a time when businesses have been doing away with their final salary pensions for all the little people, and there are still massive holes in the pension buckets.
Goodwin is not the only fat cat to have a good win on his pension.
We all need someone to hate in hard times and Goodwin is a popular choice at the moment.
It helps relieve stress!
I totally agree with James. We might not be able to avoid a deep recession, but throwing out the rule of law will definitely mean a return to the dark ages.
Post a Comment