Hark, the herald angels sing...

In the news recently I read that the Royal Bank of Scotland’s Board was threatening to resign over the whole scandal about bonuses’, that’s if they weren’t allowed to pay them out. I think of myself as average in many respects of my life, but of recent years I must say and in a crude way really , I’ve become more and more increasingly ‘pissed off’ with much of what’s going on around me, and for that matter around all of us! From the scandal of expenses for our parliamentarians to daft and stupid regulations such as the fine given to a young mother for allegedly littering; in fact her little boy was feeding the ducks.

In my head I cry out, are we all being wound up, someone tell me that this is all a joke. It may be my petty little whinge, but nevertheless it’s important, and worthy I think of consideration.

The young mother and child were recycling their wasted bread, feeding it to the ducks and in the process deriving much pleaser from sharing their waste; after all it was a much better idea than destiny landfill site.

Much of our waste ends up in the landfill-sites, and we waste a shit load; ‘that’s me being crude again’. But it’s no joking matter, just consider this: households discard 4.1 million tonnes of avoidable food waste, worth a staggering £10.2 billion every year. Much of the food that we throw away is unopened 1,600 million apples, 1,030 million tomatoes, 2,570 million bread slices, and 484 million unopened yoghurts.

Well might we say ‘let them eat cake’, while bread accounts for 505,000 tonnes of avoidable household food waste, cakes and puddings (I do like a good pudding) puts in a reasonable showing, at 86,000 tonnes per year. The simple fact is we in the UK tip into the ground 27 million tonnes of waste each and every year – 7 million tonnes more than any other European country, and when you consider the decomposition of the waste its impact on the environment I then ask why was that young mum given a fine?

Back to the bankers (Wankers) Christmas bonus, this is no incentive, helping themselves to a share of the money, money and profit made from the so-called government cash injection known as quantitative easing, an extreme form of monetary policy used to stimulate an economy where interest rates are either at, or close to, zero. Normally, a central bank stimulates the economy indirectly by lowering interest rates but when it cannot lower them any further it can attempt to feed the financial system with new money through quantitative easing. That’s when governments and central banks responded with unprecedented fiscal stimulus, monetary policy expansion, and institutional bailouts and here in Britain trillions were poured like it rained cats and dogs and, into the banking system. And then this time last year it started to emerge that bankers were earning vast amounts of money, whilst at the same time bringing about the worst rescission in living memory. They and no-one else are responsible for the misery and ill-being due to the affliction that has left millions around the world without homes or jobs stagnating in poverty.

What’s the fuss, I hear someone say?

They create pain hurt and misery; and then they want paying for it, one example comes to mind: it was earlier this year that I read of a banker who Two Methuselah of Don Perignon champagne at £9,000 each, four Jeroboam of Crystal champagne costing only £4,500 each. For those of us that don't know, a Methuselah is eight times the size, of a normal bottle, and a Jeroboam is four times the size of a normal bottle of bubbly. Interesting or what, well that's what some people spend on drink believe it or not. It's what this banker spent earlier this year whilst out on the town with his mates; in fact he spent in total £43,064.50 in the Maya nightclub which is in London's Soho.

Now we can begin to get some idea, why bankers need bonuses of millions, of course, how stupid, they have outgoings and costs just like us all, but would we spend that obscene amount of wedge on an evening’s fun. Most of us don't even earn that amount of money over a two to three year period of time, and yet these bankers who are back in the news spend money like it was confetti thrown around on festive occasions.

Who are these bankers then that command such remuneration for their services to the banking industry, apparently there is only 5000 of them, is that a blessing and - I don't wonder.

So 5000 city gold plated bankers may earn over £1 million while city traders rack up an estimated £5 billion just 12 months after the near-collapse of the entire financing system that they caused in the first place and that this government rescued them from.

Just give them all a sword to fall on!

The higher up the social scale you are or the more money you can rip off from the system; The bigger the Barrister the more interrogate the laws are to let them keep it or even award them more, lets just keep taking the tablets.

Years ago when I was a young man of 18 I was in the Royal Engineers and I had to travel the London underground on my way home, Up North as you might say; with my week-end pass in my pocket, I was so surprised to see all those thousands off people rushing about, all in a little world of there own, you could see just by watching them they had trekked the same course day after day after day, And how did they all squeeze into those little boxes, After I found out how and watching in amazement, Lots off things ran through my mind almost at the same time. and with mixed emotions. These are the workers in our Capital city that go about their business every day , each in their own little way, like soldier and worker ants, each doing their little bit to keep everything working. I was proud of them and sorry at the same time, but it’s they not the bankers – but the steelworker, the bus and train driver who create all wealth only to be ripped off.

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