Share prices surged this week as Barclays and HSBC posted combined profits of £6 billion. The banks’ investment banking arms largely accounted for the growth, which comes less than a year after the banking system was rescued with a taxpayer’s I.O.U.
Even though Barclays did not take any taxpayer’s money directly, the billions pumped into the banking system on our behalf materially assisted Barclay’s results.
The bank chief executive, John Varley has confirmed that bonuses will be paid to staff at the end of the financial year.
If there is a big surplus linked to what we the taxpayers have lent the banking system, and which we will have to pay for in the years ahead, shouldn’t the profits be ploughed back into the economy rather than the bonus packages of the bankers.
As my colleague Vince Cable remarked, the money should go to small businesses, not lining bankers’ pockets.
Without the taxpayer, many bankers would be without a job, let alone a huge bonus. Their greed and excessive risk-taking led to this crisis which is now costing millions of other people their jobs and many their homes.
I agree with Vince that instead of allowing a return to business as usual, the Financial Services Authority watchdog should show real teeth and force the banks to publish details of their policies on pay and bonuses, and the package details of anyone who earns more than the Prime Minister.
Just as with MPs and Peers, openness and transparency are the only ways to avoid another crisis like this one.
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What would you do to protect the Oldway estate from being sold off for development? It’s a fair question and one I have given some thought to ever since a conversation I had with Nick Bye three years ago when he revealed his plans to sell off the family silver.
The easiest course of action is always to leave it to others to sort the problem out. In this case the lazy answer is to flog off Oldway and pass the burden onto someone else.
It requires real hard graft, patience and full-time concentration to find a solution to the long standing problem of maintaining our public buildings and green spaces.
It often means taking on council officers who themselves may prefer an easier solution. While council staff salaries always rise when they take on new duties and responsibilities, rarely do you hear about a reduction in a council officer’s salary when a service is outsourced, privatised or an asset is sold off . Perhaps that’s why some council officers are happy to comply when a political master suggests selling everything off.
My plan would require devotion and energy to making things happen, but most of all it would require real political leadership.
1. Sell off the Fernham Day Care Centre and its grounds and ring fence the receipts for adult care services
2. Use the Section 106 windfall from planning gain at Fernham to set up an Amenity Trust that can access grants not available to the Council.
3. Transfer the rest of the Oldway Estate to the Trust.
4. Work closely with the Trust to identify and access grant funding for upkeep and improvements.
5. Transfer council services back into Oldway Mansion to utilise all of the available space in the building and reduce costs elsewhere.
6. Utilise the space in the outbuildings for record storage to release council office space elsewhere.
7. Work with existing businesses, sporting clubs and the many organisations who use the estate and help them grow their activities to increase footfall.
8. Modernise the catering facilities to fully exploit the wedding reception (and other event) potential of the building – perhaps by leasing this activity to an existing local hotel or catering provider.
9. Consult the leisure industry to develop - on an under utilized site within the grounds - an attraction in keeping with the status of the estate.
10. Allow the Trust to realise assets so long as the receipts are reinvested in the improvement of the Mansion, the estate and there is an absolute guarantee of future public access.
This is not an exhaustive list and there will be many better ideas out there that to date have failed to see the light of day because the people have not been asked to contribute to the future of Oldway.
The public ‘consultation’ over the future of Oldway was a choice between two developers, not an exercise in discovering what the community would like to see happen on the estate over 5, 10, 20 or more years.
It’s a tragedy that the powers that be seem to know how to price up a piece of land for asset disposal, but have no idea at all how to value a public asset that contributes to the quality of life of everyone.
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My Scottish colleagues will have been devastated by the news on Monday that the Haggis was recorded first in England and is therefore not a Scottish dish.
It reminded me of the research that was published a couple of years ago tracing the origins of the pasty to Devon. They still refuse to accept this proven fact on the other side of the Tamar.
They will be telling us next that the Egyptians invented cider! Actually they did.
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I haven’t seen the latest Harry Potter film but I read that he says he is backing the Liberal Democrats.
When I say he, I mean the actor, Daniel Radcliffe, not Harry Potter, and he said it in a magazine, not on screen, so it might not have been noticed by as many people. Nevertheless, with or without the magic, it’s good to have him on side.
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