Bonuses

Much has been said and written over the recent years about Britain's bonus culture, culminating in the unseemly row at RBS and the current round of bank results. Indeed, in popular parlance, a million quid is now referred to as a 'Hester'!

But bonuses don't just apply to the people at the top. The rot goes far deeper than that. I read with disgust that that pillar of the left wing, RMT's Bob Crow, has secured a bonus of up to £2,500 a head for his members who work at the Docklands Light Railway. "Why?" I hear you ask. "Is it performance related? Is it a profit share?" No. It's for not going on strike during the Olympics. Priceless, isn't it?

Elsewhere, the head of QueasyJet, Sir Stelios, is stamping down hard on his executives for alledgedly massaging the numbers to increase their bonuses. Stelios says 'No' and suggests that if they don't like it they are free to work somewhere else. Well said, Stelios...

But hang on a mo! Stelios and his family are the major shareholders in QueasyJet so how much will they be getting this year by way of dividends? Answer : about £72 million. Well it's easy to be hard nosed under those circumstances, isn't it?

And then there's the row going on over at Commerzbank . Apparently, when the bank took over Dresder Kleinwort, there was a £400 million bonus pot in the offing which would have paid some of their top people 1.5 Hesters apiece in exchange for getting their bank in such shite that it was taken over.

Martin Blessing, the new CEO, says he made it clear he never liked this when the bank was taken over and had decided that he isn't going to pay it. He says that the subsequent financial crash made it obvious that significant losses were brought about by excessive risk taking. He points out that the promise was made by the previous owners and that he has no obligation to honour it. That one's in court.

I somehow suspect that these stories just aren't going away any time soon...