Its’ a mad mad world, my masters, and it seems to be getting madder by the minute. The virtually bankrupt UK where everyone is feeling the pinch and told to tighten their belts has decided to no longer send aid to two countries. Which two impoverished countries may they be? Somalia maybe or Zimbabwe? No it couldn’t be Zimbabwe because sanctions are in place there. The countries to which the UK has been sending aid but will do so no longer are Russia, awash with oil and gas and which has more multi-billionaires than anywhere else with the possible exception of America, and China which has the world’s most flourishing economy! Meanwhile in England the bankers, greedy beyond greed and totally immoral if not downright lunatic are still living in their same old world that bears no relation to reality; their world that almost brought the real world to its knees not so long ago and it would seem a lame duck government is loathe to take them on and do anything about it. The Royal Bank of Scotland last year lost £1.1billion, bailed out previously by the government (for government read taxpayer) who owns 84%. RBS, having made this enormous loss, why have more than a hundred senior executives each pocketed £1.16million? A team of five workers evidently share a pot of an astonishing £26million. The question I ask is, if the bank made such an enormous loss, why is it paying out these bonuses to staff that obviously are not up to their job? They will come up with the usual excuse that if they don’t pay up the staff will leave for richer fields. My answer to that is perhaps it would be better to let them go. Who wants them? Such has been the gravy train none of them will ever have to work again. Ellen Alemany, chief executive of RBS American arm with salary, bonus and pension payments has walked off with £7.5million. RBS’s boss picked up £7.7million. It is totally obscene. Ninety percent tax on these amounts would soon restore some sanity to this crazy world of banking. Shareholders in RBS are suffering badly. An investment of £100 in 2005 is now hardly worth £10. Other banks have not been backward in coming forward. 231 staff at Barclays for instance (also a big loss maker) receiving an average of £2.4million each last year. And while the favoured elite are scuttling off with their unjust rewards, the ordinary bank worker suffers. Lloyds has announced it is axing 570 jobs and outsourcing more than 560. Does the phrase bad taste in the mouth come to mind?
Continuing with this madness, someone has just forked out £78000 for the dress that Kate Middleton modelled in front of William when at university and what does it consist of? Is it high fashion? Has it any style? Is it worth seventy eight pence even? It’s tat, a piece of colourless see-through rag from tits to mid-thigh and would indicate that the purchaser is definitely out of his or her mind or is completely lacking in sense or taste. With that sort of money to spend so frivolously the buyer just has to be a British banker.