Fast news

Rewarding failure

Sir Ian Blair, the former head of the Metropolitan Police, is to get a pay-off worth Ł1 million.

Blair, who quit last month, will get a lump sum payment of Ł295,000 - the amount he would have earned if he had remained in charge of the Met until his contract expired in February.

This will be topped up with Ł100,000 which includes perks and bonuses he could have collected as Commissioner.

Blair is expected to face renewed criticism following the inquest into the police shooting of migrant worker Jean Charles de Menezes.

It has also been reported that Blair is entitled to a lump sum pension payment of Ł672,000 plus an index linked pension of Ł126,000 a year. The package was approved by Tory London Mayor Boris Johnson's deputy for policing, Kit Malthouse.

Out after two misses

The High Court has reaffirmed the right of mortgage lenders to repossess a property after just two mortgage payments are missed, without even getting a court order. It was even left unclear in the ruling if the evicted home owner would be given any of the sale proceeds of their home if there is money left over once the mortgage debt is cleared. Lawyers have responded with astonishment to the ruling. So much for Gordon Brown's promise that repossessions would be a last resort.

Failed bankers in charge

The government is calling in headhunters to look for people to work in the new banking watchdog body UK Financial Investments. Brown and Darling have flung Ł37 billion of our money to the banks in their most recent handout and they obviously need to pay some people large sums of money to look after it.

This body is also supposed to ensure the banks stick to agreements about bankers' bonuses and dividends.

Sir Philip Hampton, chairman of Sainsbury's, has been made chairman. This is in spite of a blot on his CV, having previously been finance director of the not especially successful LloydsTSB.

Presumably they'll be able to find some bankers looking for a new job these days, but salaries could be a problem. The Treasury says salaries are likely to reflect a "balance" between private and public sectors. So that "balance" would take account of the many civil servants who are paid barely over the minimum wage? Probably not.

The Socialist calls for nationalised banks to be run under democratic workers' control and management. Failed bankers' control and management will only result in our money being squandered once again.

Why not click here to join the Socialist Party, or click here to donate to the Socialist Party.

In The Socialist 12 November 2008:

Socialist Party campaigns

Defend workers' jobs and pay