All right, Goodwin, I think you know what to do
Declan Chellar February 27th, 2009
I’m not British, but I lived in England for almost nine years, so I keep an eye on the BBC news. I was reading today about Sir Fred Goodwin. Fred Goodwin was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 2004 for, let me check… services to medicine… no… services to the community… no… for services to education… no…. services to banking. Yes, that was it. Because becoming a multi-millionaire isn’t reward enough in itself.
Anyway, just under five years later, Sir Fred is on the naughty step for being the world’s worst banker (according to Newsweek).
What is making the news this week is not the Sir Fred’s failure at Royal Bank of Scotland, but the news that his punishment for such spectacular failure is a pension worth £16 million – a pension which he has refused to give up, much to the chagrin of people who want to see bankers pay for their mistakes.
Oh, for the days when a knight of the realm knew what was expected of him when he committed an unacceptable faux pas.
Ripping Yarns! Haven’t seen it since it was originally broadcast. “A profit margin of 2000%” So good!