Couldn't Resist

Apologies, but I saw this headline and I just had to...

1.7 million to have dementia by 2051

Damn straight - and I'm planning to be completely plastered by half past nine.

Bonus Time

I understand the furore over the City bonuses is all about the politics of envy, but this quote made me mad.

Another Left-wing Labour MP, Alan Simpson, backed the survey's findings but said that Mr Brown was just as responsible as Mr Blair when it came to promoting divisive policies.

He said: "There is no difference between No 10 and No 11. Downing Street has pursued policies which have courted City financiers at the expense of everyone else. Financial services and the money markets are engaged in a greed-fest - and Treasury rules are actually making this possible. Many of these huge bonuses are actually rewards for failure."

Is he serious ? Does he actually think the banks are in the habit of giving out large quantities of cash to non-performers ? I guarantee you every single one of those 4,200 people receiving over £1 million made at least ten times that for their organisation. You pay the going rate or they leave and take the business with them - end of story. Non-performers make money or are fired.

Yes, I do work for an investment bank and yes, I did get a nice bonus this month. Not a seven-figure one obviously, but then I'm not a revenue generator. However, I did feel it was payback for the many months of late nights and weekends I slogged through last year. And do I begrudge the guys on the trading floor their wedge ? Not bloody likely, those guys work as hard as we do, and they make the money for our bonus pot. And the 73% of the population who think bonuses are 'excessive' should remember that the profits those people make mostly go to the shareholders, and that the banks are 90% owned by the pension companies, and the pension companies' returns go to....who exactly ?

So go on, allow Gordon to windfall tax the bonuses away and send the business to Frankfurt - you'll be slitting your own throats you idiots...but then that's how socialism works isn't it.

Vocabulary

Your Vocabulary Score: A+

Congratulations on your multifarious vocabulary! You must be quite an erudite person.

How's Your Vocabulary?