What with the protests in Egypt finally coming to fruition and the potential consequences for the rest of the middle east, politics is taking up a lot of thinking time for me. Tired of ranting at a friend on msn I decided to finally step up and make my very own little blog as an outlet for when I work myself in to rage over random things.
A little closer to home than Cairo this week we saw David Cameron doing everything in his power to secure bankers bonuses. Sure, there have been fines (inconsequential to executives of this level) and promises to publish the pay of the five highest paid executives outside the boardroom (ensuring the continued privacy of the REAL big players)
It beggars belief that the people who are almost entirely responsible for the current economic climate are the very same that we the taxpayer are having to pay bonuses to.
A quick look at some of the bosses of bailed out banks and their upcoming big fat paychecks:
* Stephen Hester, the chief executive of RBS- £1.45 million
* Eric Daniels, Lloyds- £2.04 million
* Bob Diamond, of Barclays- £8 million
* Stuart Gulliver, of HSBC- £9 million
That's right, it's a fucking scandal. Cameron and his Tory goverment, who owe EVERYTHING to uncontrollably powerful corperations are shockingly doing a favour for their old buddys from Eton.
The timid, lame punishments that amount to nothing more than a slap on the wrist seem to me to be nothing more than an attempt to placate the public in their (rightful) outrage.
I'm not suprised by it all, it's hardly the first time this coalition has failed to fufill the promises they made to their voters.
I read the other day an argument that the next generation of leaders and politicians would be "different" thanks to the incredible culture shift brought around by technology and post cold war society. At first I thought the idea had real potential but then I came to consider the background of the current crop who are just as corrupt evil bastards as the rest were.
Ah.
Born and raised in the summer of love, the time of hippys and stick it to the manism(?), surely this generation if any would be the one to really shake things up?
Not a chance. Ideals and morality mean very little in the face of money, power and fame.
In summary, politicians were shit, are shit and will surely be shit.
