Harriet Harman on Sir Fred Goodwin

Cleaver

Just read this on the BBC website:

Ms Harman declined to say how the government would achieve this but made it clear it would not tolerate the award as it stands.
"The prime minister has said that it is not acceptable and therefore it will not be accepted," she added.

"And 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."

I don't go in for the conspiracy theories but this basically traslates as:

"We have no legal way of stripping him of this money and I therefore can't tell you how we will do it. It would be illegal of us to take this money. Whilst we recognise that it is illegal and doesn't stand up in court, we've noticed that everyone is really angry about it and we need to do something about it to keep face. We've therefore made up the soundbite 'court of public opinion', which actually means nothing, and we'll use that as a way to justify everything."

amcluesent

>in the court of public opinion<

LOL. That's not a good place for Clown and his corrupt, useless NuLabor cabal either!

caroline1973lefty

Despicable as he is, Sir Fred is just one individual. The problem is the whole system that incentivised lots of rich men to take huge risks and pay themselves enormous sums, in salaries, bonuses and gold standard pensions. Seems to me the obvious solution is not complicated new legislation, but to follow Obama's example and raise taxes on earnings/pensions of over £150,000 a year.

Who needs more than this to live on, anyway?

And if higher taxes for the super-rich cause the greedy bankers to leave the country (which i doubt it really would), then i think that might not be a bad thing, after the mess they've made!

1echidna

The number pf times Clown says something is unacceptable, like Mugabwe's rule in Zimbabwe, African poverty, or the recent situation in Gaza, it is all hot air. The man is a windbag. Harriet Harman is even more living in cloud cuckoo land. The most damaging piece of propaganda, perhaps in British political history, was Clown's oft repeated statement which so many were seduced by was that he had engineered an 'end to boom and bust'.

Oblivion

Cleaver wrote: »

Can we please put this is some sort of perspective? For goodness sake. It's a man with a large pension. If this is taking up someone's thoughts enough to the point where they want to inflict physcial harm then they need to take a long hard look at their life and get a grip.

And there aren't a lot of 'angry people looking for revenge'. 99% of people, when asked, would say that he seems a bit of a greedy sh*t and it's a bit of a disgrace. They would then forget about him and get on with their day. As should you.

I must correct a misconception you seem to have created ... a classic case of 'reading what you think I said' rather than what I actually said. I would never advocate inflicting physical harm on another human being, but I am more than a little worried that you are of a mindset to jump to that conclusion.

What I was referring to was the intense pressure that will now be put upon this individual by those seeking revenge and restitution, which may result in his early demise. The Wall Street crash resulted in many early deaths, as history recalls, for those who could not face the pressures of disgrace and failure.

Dave.

mewbie_2

In the court of public opinion Brown ,Harman , etc. have already been found guilty. But the case is going to drag on all the way to election day. Then bye bye Mr.Brown, Harman, etc.

Cleaver

Oblivion wrote: »

I must correct a misconception you seem to have created ... a classic case of 'reading what you think I said' rather than what I actually said. I would never advocate inflicting physical harm on another human being, but I am more than a little worried that you are of a mindset to jump to that conclusion.

Thanks for spelling that out to me is such a patronising way, and I appreciate your concern for my mindset.

Oblivion wrote: »

What I was referring to was the intense pressure that will now be put upon this individual by those seeking revenge and restitution, which may result in his early demise. The Wall Street crash resulted in many early deaths, as history recalls, for those who could not face the pressures of disgrace and failure.

Just to annoy you further I'm not going to respond to this. I'm going to say that your signature, which tells us all that you have hundreds of thousands of pounds with celebrating smiley faces with hats and streamers, is really annoying.

Kez100

We can have no respect for the guy but any anger or annoyance has to lie firmly with our elected Government who have been so incompetent throughout. I am prepared to give them some slack due to pressure of time but this was a major error in not ensuring severence packages were negotiated properly. They appear to hae done it on the back of a fag packet.

Oblivion

Cleaver wrote: »

Just to annoy you further I'm not going to respond to this. I'm going to say that your signature, which tells us all that you have hundreds of thousands of pounds with celebrating smiley faces with hats and streamers, is really annoying.

Ah, so it's just an envy thing. Now I understand. :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Dave.

1echidna

I am not really into defending men on ginormous salaries, just commenting on how vulnerable they are to outrageous fortune. This bubble has been inflating for more than a decade. Events led it to burst recently, it could have happened five years ago or a few years in the future. In either case a completely different set of 'villains' would have probably been in the public spotlight.