Funny old world isn’t it?

Parasite runs once successful business into the ground through his stupidity and gets £650k a year for life when the bank is effectively nationalised.

Royal Mail workers on the other hand are told that unless they agree to privatisation their pensions (generally somewhat less than ‘”Fred the Shred’s”) are likely to be drastically cut.

It’s good to see New Labour can look after the rich and rob the workers just as well as any Tory government!!

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the whole pension should be cancelled and he should be down the job centre looking for a real job

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Rob, Telford said:-

“It’s good to see New Labour can look after the rich and rob the workers just as well as any Tory government!”

Well, let me tell you something Rob, Telford. If you had listened to Newsnight last night you would have heard the boss of the Financial Services Authority, Adair Turner, firmly and unequivically lay the blame for the excesses and irresponsible and greedy policies of banks directly at the feet of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, indeed, Turner said that the policy of the FSA was not to regulate and quoted speeches of both Brown and Blair in which they said that “only a light supervision was to be exercised by the FSA”. Newsnight broadcast both those speeches, one by Blair in particular where he said almost straight out, that the FSA was not to regulate.
It was this lack of supervision, totally admitted by Turner that was responsible for the crashing of 5 of our ten leading banks etc.
So, no snide comments about the Conservatives, the economy was fine and dandy when Labour took over, no banks were in trouble and in 1997 all the trouble started with Brown bringing in the FSA and doing away with the former tight regulation by the Treasury and the Bank of England.
If you want to know where the Tories stand on these obscene bonuses and pensions paid to bank bosses, then listen to Osborne speaking in the House of Commons, like today when he slated the award of this pension and those that allowed it, New Labour.
It’s to late Labour tightening up now, the damage has been done. If there had been regulation in the first place, the disasters facing us would not have happened.

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Well that’s 45pence more than me Diana. A few months ago I was getting £50 a month interest on my rainy day account with Barclay’s, this month it was £2.15.
As a pensioner I am now subsidising my derisory State Pension from my savings, and, as they go down, so will the interest when things start to pick up again. We just cannot win and I hope pensioners know what to do when the election comes around because we have been utterly forgotten.

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I’ve just realized. Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) were here with us all the time !

They were in ‘Cabinet’ working for the bankers.

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Fred DESERVES his pension.

All the pople complaining HAVE never been in a high pressure job like his.

So the bank went under.

But is it all the fault of one guy?

I think not…

Leave the poor bloke alone.

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Peter, the labour spin doctor! WRONG again.

The Scottish idiots cronies knighted Fred to boot!
His favorite banker!!!
What a mess Labour have created
Things can only get better?

A laughing stock and we pay!!

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Stuart and Drewp,
I suggest you do some research of your own.

From the FSA’s website I quote: ‘We are a company limited by guarantee and financed by the financial services industry.’
And…from the same website, ‘The Chancellor announced his decision to merge banking supervision and investment services regulation into the Securities and Investments Board (SIB). The SIB formally changed its name to the Financial Services Authority in October 1997.’

The FSA/SIB has the legal form of a company limited by guarantee (number 01920623) and was incorporated on 7th June 1985, so the idea that somehow this organisation was ‘created by New Labour’ is factually completely incorrect.

Certain supervisory functions were transferred from the Bank of England to the FSA in 2000, but the suggestion that somehow the Bank of England previously had some higher levels of regulatory power is an erroneous one. In fact, prior to the existence of the SIB (later the FSA) regulation was largley covered by FIMBRA – essentially a self-regulatory organisation.

So which of those facts do you dispute?
Drewp in particular, I’ll be more than happy to see a humble retraction of your previous erroneous statement. You clearly know nothing at all about the subject. Presumably in your sheer blinkered ignorance you would also blame Brown for the recession in the US, or Germany, Japan or any number of other places.

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Peter, you can play on words as much as you wish. The reform of Banking supervision was instigated by Brown almost immediately he set foot in office, I REPEAT IN 1997. Prior to this, all financial regulation and services were spread about over a number of bodies, The Treasury, Bank of England, and the Securities and Investments Board.
All of these were in good order when the Labourites took over and the economy (as I have mentioned many times when I quote all the financial pundits)was sound and healthy. These separate bodies bore no resemblance to the FSA in any way shape or form. The SIB merely dealt with (as it’s name implied) “securities and investments”. IT DID NOT DEAL WITH BANK SUPERVISION.
Brown amalgamated both Banking supervision which hitherto was shared by the BofE and the Treasury and investment supervision into one body. The name adopted by the new body was the FSA, this was in 1977. It did not change it’s name for the sake of changing it as you imply, it changed it for a very good reason, to reflect it’s new “combined” responsibilities. BROWN WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE WHOLE SHAMBLES OF THIS NEW ORGANISATION – which he told, (as did Blair) to exercise only “light supervision” and therein lies the culpability of your Labour friends. Had Brown not set in train, a total reform of Banking regulation when he entered office, the FSA would not have been set up. He is utterly and totally responsible for setting it up as Adair Turner acknowledged. As far as I am aware. you are the only one saying that Brown was not responsible for setting up the FSA. Whether he thought up it’s name or whatever is splitting hairs and is wholly immaterial to the matter at issue.
You speak of the FSA as a “limited company” as if it were located on the High Street along the lines of Tesco, Marks and Spencer etc – it is not. The only relevance it has to a “limited company” is by it’s guarantee. There all similarity ends. Tell me of a “limited company” that is answerable direct to the Chancellor and ultimately to Parliament, tell me of any limited company that has statutory responsibilities and “disciplinary” (I use that word advisedly) functions based on statutes – none whatsoever. Granted, it is financed by its “compulsory” members but the rub is, if they are not a member and do not contribute, they cannot operate any form of banking, security or investment services etc. So we have a “limited company” eh!.
It’s “limited” designation is only extended insofar as it must not be seen to be an arm of government, but, just like the Bank of England, they do what they are told by the Government in the form of the Chancellor and Prime Minister, if they didn’t, why was Blair and Brown telling them to ease up on Banking regulation and supervision and, whilst it would be denied, why does Brown tell the BofE what interest rates to set. He decides these matters on political grounds and the BofE obediently obeys.
I will differ with you on another point, the Bank of England were responsible for Banking supervision, indeed, most authorities would argue that it was by taking this function away from it and giving it to a non-functioning FSA this was the measure and decision by Brown which set the present disaster on course.
Let’s have no red herrings Peter over the technicalities and constitutions of the various financial bodies. Banking supervision was turned on it’s head when Labour came into office in 1997 and not one shred of the present fiasco cannot be laid at New Labour’s door. Brown is culpable for this mess.
In closing I notice that you lump the SIB/FSA together in 1985 – total nonsence, the FSA wasn’t even a dream in anyone’s minds in that year and the SIB were not in anyway concerned with bank supervision. I will not argue further on these issues Peter, Brown is keen to duck off all responsibility for his personal failings by every word he comes out with being “GLOBAL”. It was not a “GLOBAL” crisis which forced one of our major banks to loan 40% of it’s total capital to the US Prime Mortgage market, it did so because our lax banking laws allowed it. It was not a “GLOBAL” crisis which allowed many of our other banks to loan 125% mortgages to UK borrowers, it was our lax banking laws which allowed it. Now the big question is – WHO ALLOWED THOSE LAX BANKING LAWS TO OPERATE HERE. Master Brown, the brilliant, the best, the most prudent, the most experienced economic dimwit it has been the misfortune of this country ever to have had.

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Peter, I will end my contribution by reiterating my view – based on fact that the Bank of England were responsible for Bank Supervision prior to Brown taking over as Chancellor.
You seem to be oblivious of the fact, and I keep repeating it, that both Blair and Brown told the FSA to exercise only “light” regulation over the banking and finance industry. Check on their speeches, Blair said quite explicitly, that over regulation would damage the economy. It is now common knowledge that they said this but you don’t seem to accept it – in which case, Adair Turner and all the political and economic pundits are telling porkies.
When we are confronted with the new regulations for banks being drawn up by the FSA (they will be published shortly), massive lending and borrowing to foreign countries, ie the US will be seriously curtailed, a fixed % of a banks capital will require to be held as a security by banks, lending and borrowing within the UK will be severely altered and indeed, all the riotous, irresponsible and foolhardy practices of UK banks which took off under Blair and Brown will be stopped. You see.
We are now picking up the tab from Blair and Brown’s public spending and “free for all” bonanza – all based on borrowing. The same culture that was allowed to seep down to the man in the street, borrow now, live on credit, don’t bother about tomorrow, make merry whilst the sun shines and now it has found us out. A national debt that will take generations to sort out, firms going bust by the day, vultures on the boards of firms picking up gynormous pay-offs and backhanders and in the midst of it all, our prudent ex Chancellor who caused it all and whos’e only word that he knows is “global” turns around to the naive and gullible masses and say’s, “nothing to do with me, I ran a good economy, it’s all the fault of America, China, Persia, Siam, Belize, Honduras, Chile and all the rest of the world”.
There’s only one snag with that argument and that is, the intelligent and knowleagable outnumber the naive and the gullible by millions to one so his plea of innocence does not wash with those who know where the truth lies.
One little personal point Peter and there are many like me. I supplement my pension with savings interest and I spread my savings around (eggs and baskets etc). By May my bonds will all have matured and I will be left with savings which will be transferred into my current account and wondering where to put them, certainly no bank paying .5% interest is going to get them so they will be dormant until interest rates pick up, in the meantime, as a pensioner, I will be some £400 per month worse off. There are hundreds of thousands like me, we keep our eye on “everything economic and financial” and we know where the blame lies, we are not dumb, not easily taken in, know a bad deal when we see one and we know a shyster when he spins a story. Are you there Mr Brown or are you working out your pension pot.

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Peter,

Alistair Darling is going to have a bust up with Brown when he comes back from telling the Americans how to get out of their trouble. Have you read Darlings comments, the current disaster is not the responsibility of any one person, there is Cabinet responsibility and therefore they are all responsible. So, there we have it, Darling saying that Labour are responsible. Then, did you hear the BBC Political Editor ask Brown – in front of Obama yesterday, if he was going to apologise to the British people, and the nearest Brown has come yet, when he also said there was “collective Cabinet responsibility”.
The Tories had no need to call for tighter regulation Peter, they took Brown at his word when he said he was giving responsibilty for regulation to the FSA, everything was bright and rosy when the Tories handed over, they didn’t have the books to look at, they didn’t have meetings with Adair Turner and his predecessor, they were not to know that whilst Brown and Blair were throwing money around like there was no tomorrow, banks were down to barely a week’s wages bill.
No Peter, the buck stops with Brown. For goodness sake, the man even had the gall to tell Obama in front of the cameras about the American President who had the plaque on his desk with the words on it, “THE BUCK STOPS HERE”. I wonder if that was his (Brown’s) way of saying that he must accept full responsibility for the disaster now facing us.

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