You can bank on bankers making a mess of things

News of banker bonuses is painful to hear.

Please, somebody call a doctor! The pain is excruciating!

After hearing the shocking news that state owned, loss-making RBS are to again reward their staff with a mega bonus of £550 million my jaw has not only hit the floor but smashed right through it and I’m in agony.

I’m also quivering with rage.

You really couldn’t make this up and I’m gobsmacked that UKFI the Government backed body set up to look after the taxpayers’ interests even entertained the notion of a pay out let alone formally agreed to one.

Here in the real world such a request would have been laughed out the door.

As if any of you need reminding RBS is the bank that was largely responsible in 2008 for causing the global banking meltdown and the dreadful world recession that followed.

A bank that with Fred ‘The Shred’ Goodwin at its helm managed to fritter away hundreds of billions of our readies on ill conceived takeovers and ill advised acquisitions and whose lavish spending sprees could only be compared to African dictators.

We have all been paying for the spending sprees and errors of judgement from those dark days to this.

With current RBS boss Ross McEwan I held a glimmer of hope that, until the £45.5 million bail out was paid back and a share of any profits dished out to their long suffering shareholders, bonuses would be stopped. That after the roasting the bank received in 2012 for rewarding failure with £679m of our cash Mr McEwan would have kept his head down and our cash safe.

After all, what other business pays out a bonus when making an £8bn loss? It seems I was wrong.

Given what we already know about RBS and some of the other foul practices they’ve been up to we would expect them to be licking our feet and grovelling for forgiveness.

But no, it’s shameless and arrogant business as usual, safe in the knowledge that neither the Lib-Dumb/Tory coalition or the feckless Labour Opposition have the desire or gumption to really take the banks on.

These charlatans have to be made accountable to those who bailed them out and now own them the UK taxpayer. Reform must be a priority.

They should never have been allowed to run themselves again after the complete cack they made of things. Labour’s Alistair Darling should have let them sink instead of propping them up.

Let’s face it, because of RBS’s incompetence and mismanagement tens of thousands of businesses and homeowners around the world had to deal with that hard reality.

Even now those at the top are proposing to shed thousands of frontline jobs to save their gilded lifestyles, concerned only about themselves and totally unconcerned of the impact that the decision will have on those facing the dole.

Vince Cable recently tried to influence the debate on the referendum by stating RBS were going to up sticks and move to London if there was ever a yes vote.

Well I say to RBS and Mr McEwan why wait till then? Just go now it would probably be better and cheaper all round if you did!

You asked us to trust you, well I do trust you to continue to rob us all blind. So go.

As for Standard Life’s ridiculous threat also to leave if Scotland says yes…again I say to them less of the threats, just go.

If you’re lucky you might even be able to cadge a lift with Mr McEwan…