The Forfeiture Committee is to consider whether it should act to strip Sir Fred Goodwin of the knighthood he received in 2004 for his services to banking. The former head of the Royal Bank of Scotland has caused widespread public and political anger after he took early retirement and subsequently got a £700,000 yearly pension from the bank he so nearly bankrupted. Goodwin to be stripped of knighthood?
The home of Sir Fred Goodwin, the face of Britain’s failing banking system, was vandalized early this morning. Three windows were broken and a car parked outside also suffered broken windows. A group calling themselves ‘Bank Bosses are Criminals’ have claimed responsibility, and warned that this is ‘just the beginning’.
Meanwhile, when asked in the congressional hearing, Edward Liddy, the new blame free boss at AIG preferred not to disclose the names of those executives receiving bonuses, because members of the public though they should be ‘strangled with piano wire’. Piano wire and toilet justice.
Kenneth Lewis, the Bank of America Corp. Chief Executive seems to think so. Lewis has written to congress to express his concern, saying the legislation penalizes employees who are not responsible for responsible for creating the financial crisis the US is suffering. ‘In this environment, I am very concerned about our ability to retain some of our most valuable associates’, he went on to say. Is the 90% tax bill unfair?
In an interview with the Guardian newspaper, Gordon Brown finally admits some responsibility over the financial crisis. After David Cameron’s apology and subsequent double digit lead in the polls, this was only to be expected. Although it is doubtful whether this is enough to diffuse the calls for an apology from his political opponents. Brown finally accepts some responsibility.