As you may be aware... I've not been writing this blog for very long... but I thought it about time that I started an award for people I come across in life, who get right up my nose. I've decided to create my very own 'Twat of the Week' award!
Not that I would ever pretend to aspire to reaching the heady heights of my esteemed blogger colleague GrumpyOldTwat, who has perfected the art... but I do think every self respecting grumpy old blogging git should have a 'Twat of the Week'... so here goes!
Today, my 'Twat of the Week' has to unequivocally be Sir Fred Goodwin!
Sir Fred Goodwin, as I'm sure you all know by now, is the former (and highly discredited) boss of RBS (yes... arguably the king of the banker wankers!). He is in the news today under fire for the generosity of his £650,000-a-year pension, four months after leaving the Royal Bank of Scotland.
Sir Fred, who stepped down after RBS had to be bailed out by the government, revelled in his nickname of 'Fred the Shred' for cutting costs and jobs.
Commonly described as the most charismatic and also the most abrasive of the banking bosses, Sir Fred's position became untenable as the bank was propped up with £20bn of public money - now bolstered by another £13bn cash injection.
Sir Fred was in charge at RBS for nine years and steered it from being a bit-part player to global icon as one of the world's top five banks.
He built up the bank with acquisition after acquisition - NatWest, Coutts, Adam & Co, Direct Line, Ulster Bank, Churchill and Citizens Bank in the US - and then ruthlessly cut costs through staff reductions to generate bigger profits.
But the wheels started to come off with the acquisition of ABN Amro as part of a consortium at the height of the boom in 2007.
Even before his departure, Sir Fred was under fire because of heavy losses and a £12bn rights issue to raise more money for RBS.
It has been disclosed today, that Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, sent a junior Treasury minister to have a word with Sir Fred Goodwin yesterday, after it emerged that the 50-year-old banker was already benefitting from a £16 million pension pot... grotesque, especially in the light of his massive mismanagement of RBS.
RBS has posted a pre-tax loss for last year of £24.1 billion, both from trading losses and write-downs. RBS is also to receive a further capital injection of £25 billion in public money and have also announced that they will inject £325 billion in toxic assets into the Government's insurance programme.
Mr Darling has apparently asked Sir Fred to give up his pension.
The new chairman of RBS Sir Philip Hampton has also spoken to Sir Fred and asked him to voluntarily reduce his pension.
Today, I am awarding Sir Fred my 'Twat of the Week' award... not only for his part in getting us all in this heap of shit... but especially for his reply to Darling and anyone else suggesting he should, quite reasonably, make a voluntary reduction in his grotesque pension. Sir Fred, who is apparently 'furious' with the leak of his pension arrangement (oh dear... we so sympathise... NOT) said earlier today that he would think about it. However, BBC News is just reporting as I write... that apparently this greaseball has now stated categorically... that he will not give back a single penny! What a twat!
Sir Fred, in a letter to the Treasury, has now rejected all requests to give any of his pension back. In his letter, he also suggests ministers agreed to the deal.
Earlier today on Radio 4, Darling said that the Government had thought the deal was legally binding when it was agreed in October, but that they now realise they could have blocked it!
Of course, many of you will undoubtedly argue, that perhaps the award should more rightly be going to Gordon Brown or Alistair Darling... or whoever negotiated the bail out with RBS on behalf of the Government... or indeed the whole of this, daily more ludicrously mismanaging, Labour Government. I would not be able to argue strongly against this!
As for Labour MPs... not many have come out today to criticise or comment. It could be because they are all getting ready to go partying with Banker Wankers tonight!
John Prescott Dies Aged 86
2 hours ago
5 comments:
Quite right, but it's a bit cheeky Brown/Darling wanting Goodwin to give up his pension though, what are the chances they will be giving theirs up (particularly our fearless/totally incompetent leader) due to their total mismanagement of the economy?
Well... it seems the chances are not good... as GORDON Brown last night dismissed calls to surrender his £123,000 a year pension!
"Brown's £3m pension pot is expected to cast the spotlight on the extravagant retirement packages of other failed politicians including Alistair Darling's inexplicable £1.7m and the £1.5m awarded to John Prescott for being a national scandal for 10 years."
As for us Taxpayers... Martin Bishop, head of pension rows at the Institute for Studies, said: "It's a fascinating dynamic. The politicians blame the bankers, the bankers blame the politicians, and the ordinary taxpayer is down on all fours with a confused look on his face, being fucked at both ends."
Read "Fred the Shred's" latest reaction here!
Oh... and a little word of warning for those more naive amongst us... this should be read with a large pinch of salt... it's called political satire! lol
Saludos!
You really need to choose a 'Twat of the day' or possibly even a 'Twat of the hour' since there are far too many of them from which to select, starting with the government who allowed this to happen as you rightly suggested!
in his honour, i have set up fredgoowinisatwat.info. if you need to vent, go there and tell him what a twat he truly is. good work.
Anonymous... you misspelt your web site address! For anyone interested: http://www.fredgoodwinisatwat.info
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