Incorrect.

Cameron threatened to veto a seven figure bonus.

And Fallon is now on the radio saying the govt directly intervened to reduce the bonus.

Mitt Romney’s price for being the Republican nominee is now 1.19 on Betfair.  On that basis, the 2.58 for him being next President looks good value.

I think Cameron was, unwisely, being rather economical with the truth there.  This article explains it better than most:

http://www.heraldscotland.com/mobile/politics/political-news/cameron-pressure-on-rbs-to-cut-chiefs-bonus-in-half.1327028837

While he too made clear no decisions had been taken on bonus payments at the 82% state-owned bank, he stressed Mr Hester would get significantly less than the £2m he received last year.
“I can tell you something,” the PM said, “if there is a bonus, it will be a lot less than it was last year.”

One banker noted how the RBS board was unequivocal in believing Chancellor George Osborne did not set the bonus of Mr Hester, who was being urged to accept a £1m-plus bonus.

Of course they have the legal right, the Deputy Chairman of the Tory Party is all over the media claiming they intervened to reduce the bonus.

The Pm has been all over the mediansaying he was going to intervene.

No I have paid substantial taxes to help fund that absurd building and those pontificating fools who can’t write a comprehensible piece of legislation.

The costs of such stupidityand self indulgence  really should be borne by those who voted for it.

Why Croatian hookers and not some other nationality?

“How many lines are needed to make trainspotting exciting?”

I assume you are talking about lines of coke?

I’m quite happy for Fallon and Cameron to be charged, but be aware that your accusation of Cameron first making a mistake, then being economical with the truth and now breaking the law
may bring the wrath of fitalass down upon you.
Gaddafi’s bodyguards were pussycats by comparison.

RBS is an independent company and the govt have used what pressure they can to encourage the lowest bonus that was realistic.

I think we can all agree these banks are a mess and we all know why.

To be fair, I think there is a valid criticism that the government has encouraged the view that it can control remuneration rather than just influence it. I also think the government has been too ready to indulge in populist banker-bashing.

I’m a bit disappointed that the Big Society won’t feature, although I’m sure the PB Tories will be cheering the BBC’s coverage of the pawn of praise to the NHS.

Each train is operated by a single driver, and comprises up to 234 ore cars, each ore car with a load capacity of approximately 112 tonnes. A fully loaded train weighs approximately 31,000 tonnes and is about 2.4 kilometres in length.
http://www.riotintoironore.com/ENG/operations/497_rail.asp 

Now I know it’s not just me that finds Obama tedious listening:

State of the Union viewers had very short attention spans. More than 1/4 of them tuned out in the first 5 mins: http://t.co/aF2c0VGd

You have prompted me to check and its about a third of what was ABN the Dutch took mover.  I think we would have been happy for them to have bought the lot.

Just enjoy the car crash.

Who do you think Osborne will try to blame, or will he go for the meteorological defence again.

“he would’ve lent more to SME’s if the weather hadn’t been quite so cold, and share prices always fall in warm weather”

@paulwaugh
Really interesting still no Tory minister talking re Hester. Browne, Clegg, Boris, EdM, Fallon and now Tyrie #wheresGeorge?

Just his geography.  If he favours Croatian hookers, why is he in Thailand?

No, I’m relatively sober. I was just trying to think outside the box, and create an Opening Ceremony that would please hypocritical Guardianista Marxists and chavvy BNP voters alike.

They are all part of the complex and wonderful tapestry of Britishness, and they all deserve to be “celebrated” in a truly inclusive Olympic party. No?

BBC claim 1 billion will watch it, antifrank.

I’d suggest that the number who will see their own nation’s athletes walk in (in News clips) will be nearer 5 billion.

The number watching the entire ceremony, I grant you, will be in comparison, minimal: just like their IQ…..

That’s a fair point. I’m not sure I’ve watched one ever, and I’m pretty sure I won’t watch the one in London, either.

In fact I am quite unbelievably apathetic about the whole thing: even the beach volleyball. 

In years past I used to get excited about Olympic Games, now I couldn’t give the tiniest toss about any of it. Have I finally achieved wisdom or sunk into terminal cynicism? 

I think it’s wisdom. These days I much prefer world cups – i.e. football, rugby or cricket. Proper sports. English sports! Not greco-roman wrestling or “korfball”.

I suspect the fact that we have a NHS is largely unknown around the world, since paying an insurance premium and getting near ‘free-at-the-point-of-use’ treatment is what they are used to.

Mind you, they get to choose the insurer, and get treated in days, not months, but hey……

I might put the Ceremony on in the background, like the Royal wedding. Sometimes these types of ceremonies can be worth it for  the comedy value alone, although I would prefer ours be awesome – but the cost and difficulty of that makes it unlikely.

The Games themselves? Some sports are better than others, but I’ll just watch whatever is on at the time if I’m in the mood and hope GB does well. I

How sad. Our nation has made many mistakes, done many things that in this modern age we would condemn, but there is so much to be proud of, or at least be interested in finding out about rather than dismiss out of hand, but I even have family members who have nothing good to say about the UK, and wish they were American really really badly. Not that Americans aren’t great, but still, bit of a slap in the face to old Blighty, and lots of people are similarly disinterested.

The sense of frustration amongst the world economic elite at the Eurozone inertia is beginning to crack. International investors are, off the record, confirming to us the remarkable extent of their plans to cope and mitigate a Eurozone collapse.
This is deeply problematic for those running the Eurozone. The understandable experiment with putting the horse of reining in PIIG debts before the rescue cart is running out of time.
A leading European bank has begun to account for euros differentially, by nation state. That is to say, they are differentiating a risk to euros that originate in a potentially defaulting country from that of a euro-cert. they, in effect, have invented the concept of a German, Greek and Irish euro.
http://www.channel4.com/news/chancellor-to-get-new-powers-over-bank-of-england 

Former Wavertree MP Jane Kennedy has applied for Labour selection for Merseyside Police Commissioner role.

Some weeks ago Rhodri Morgan has come out in favour of Alun Michael in South Wales.

When will we know if Prescott will try to get  Humberside candidature?

I didn’t go because I heard it was crap.

And just how messy was the marathon?

6 o clock news not good for the Govt, Boris and Ed saying the same thing, and Osborne claiming the Govt would have had to take over direct running of the bank if they hadn’t paid the bonus (it appears halving the bonus was OK)

Not a good day for the Fops, Cameron can never posture about fairness again, and Osborne has shot “We’re all in this together” and rammed home the Lord Fauntleroy stereotype.

I’m, at best, a slow drinker, whilst Stuart got quicker as each pint of lager passed his lips….

The marathon, IIRC, was simply the most pints drunk – but I’ve no idea what the time limit was!

I only watched and timed – it was great fun and there were a dozen or so taking part – some being ‘specialists’ in particular events…..

It was beyond crap. It was in a whole new world of seventeen–dimensional ultracrap that made mere crap look like the Crown Jewels.

The Dome was New Labour; New Labour was the Dome. A prolapsed rectum at the butt-end of London, aptly representing the intellectual haemorrhoid that is the British left. 

Perhaps the Govt should’ve let Aidan Burley do the Olympic choreography.

Here’s the opening ceremony.

http://m.eb.com/assembly/2715

Boris was quick off the mark – he knows that it’s a toxic issue for the Tory leadership, he needs to distance himself.

SeanT has a point here. In many ways, the central focus of London is Trafalgar Square, where we have had a range of art over the last decade on the fourth plinth. They include the God awful lefty art such as these:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2022/2049820710_422c09efdc.jpg
http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Arts/Arts_/Pictures/2008/05/28/plinth-copy-7.jpg
http://www.london.gov.uk/fourthplinth/sites/default/files/FP_445_250_Marc_Quinn.jpg

Meanwhile, by far the best one, was this:

http://www.urban75.org/london/images/nelson-ship-in-a-bottle-02.jpg

Ultimately, what the people want, is the ship that wopped the Frogs.

Anyone know who will give me a mentally insane contract involving shitloads of money and bonuses if I take over and attempt to save a buggered nationalised bank?

Just a small side issue though. If the idiots who give me the contract try and go back on it later on (assuning I’ve done what they asked and done my job properly), then I’ll sue their asses and ride off into the sunset with even more cash! I feel damn sorry for any poor buggers who get that sort of deal assigned to them by the w**kers who made it in the first place. I mean, you could even imagine them realising what a stupid deal it was and then trying to pass the buck for their moronic negotiating skills. By the way Tim, you are full of sh*t.

The bonus wasn’t contractual, and the Govt intervened to change the bonus.

And as for what the Govt asked, well the lending targets weren’t met, and the share price has fallen over the year.

Besides that, a really good post.

But the Dome has been turned into a wonderful auditorium – the O2 of course. Saw Depeche Mode there a couple of years ago.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Depeche_Mode_O2_15_12_09.JPG

Just joined, haven’t read the thread.

IMHO, based on the experience of the LibDems and the voting reform referendum, it’s an excellent idea to allow the people with the ardent desire for change, to set things up to give themselves the best possible chance of winning.

it isn’t that simple; he had a right to have the committee consider whether to give him a bonus and a right to the bonus once they had awarded it and a cracking good claim against the govt in the tort of interfering with a contract if they intervened in the matter.

It seems to me hester should voluntarily cap his bonus at £26,000. That solves two problems at once and makes it clear to the underclass that we are all in this together.

Yep, that bank is still losing loads of money right? He takes over when it’s making a humungous loss and now it’s er……making a tidy profit.

I ain’t defending any bankers, they are all a bunch of overpaid greedy etc etc… But this is hypocritical opportunism of the highest order by your lot. And the bar is set bloody high where Labour is concerned.

Converting people that insisted on not converting when they were alive just seems a bit odd. That’s all.

What on earth were Brown & Darling thinking about when they negotiated this contract with RBS / Hester,I know they had a soft touch for bankers but what a crazy deal.

Was the promise of a knighthood also thrown in?

It would be nice if there was an intelligent PB Tory around to answer your points, but as there doesn’t seem to be.

The

Bonus

Was

Not

Contractual.

So lets get this right. There was no bonus offered in the contract at all?  Then why is he getting one?

I suggested 26K on last night’s thread

This NHS in the Olympics Opening Ceremony is a sickener. It’s a patchy, free-at-the-point-of-rationing/queuing service …. Mind you we do have Europe’s fattest nurses (the practice manager at my local GP surgery is at least 20 stone) whose attitudes towards the clients often leave a lot to be desired. Still, if it’s anything like last August here in Birmingham and London, we could really put on a fireworks display which will fully engage the world’s attention.

But the Labour Government would have been aware of the terms of his employment (and presumably agreed it) so why hasn’t Miliband or Darling (who would definitely know) come out and clarify the situation once and for all instead of Miliband persisting with his monkey spanking politics of envy performance ?

Brown & Darling couldn’t stop bonuses either   - 
 

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/money/article2218484.ece Darling seems to this was a contractual problem -Speaking to the BBC yesterday, he said: “Obviously, there are contractual problems with some staff ”

So why didn’t they do something about it ?

Perhaps the queues of athletes waiting to get onto the track reminded them of something?

[edit] Its like saying Come to Britain. Its over-centralised, its oppressively bureaucratic, its dysfunctional, its obese, its wasteful, its dirty and you have to wait forever before you can ‘enjoy’ its delights and if you stay here too long it might well kill you.

I think the Tories will take a temporary hit – it’s an embarrassment for the Gov, but one most people would have expected.

If I understand things correctly, the taxpayer is on the hook for about 40 billion quid with RBS. Hester is there to basically get that back. You (Tim on behalf of his bosses at Labour HQ),are just trying to distract the public by going hell bent for leather at the ‘moral unfairness’ of the bonus awarded to the bloke you put there in the first place.

Just stop it for once. Just bloody once. Face the reality. Part of the way capitalism works involves some people getting shedloads more money than they may bloody deserve. It happens. This is not even a footnote in the 200 volume encyclopedia of feck ups by the last Labour Government. On principle bankers are totally taking the piss, in reality Britain needs the finance industry to contribute big time to the economy.

You are the propaganda mouthpiece of the attack dept of the Labour party. I’m sure that I’m not the only one on here fed up with with your robotic nonsense.

Michael Fallon has been doing it all day.

He says the payment was not contractual, but that the Govt stepped in to temper it.

Osbornes story is that they tempered it, but that had they gone further the Govt would’ve had to take over day to day running of the bank.

Camerons story is that although he said he would veto seven figure bonuses he wasn’t “directly” involved in this.