Hush- The Grown-Ups Are Talking
Oct. 9th, 2008 09:06 amIt's like being a child again. The TV news is on, the talking heads are speaking a language that is recognisably English, but what they're saying is going right over my head. The Chancellor of the Exchequer (the man with the startlingly white hair and the startlingly black eyebrows) has just borrowed a whole heap of money to lend to the bankers who bankrupted themselves- and the world- by borrowing more than they could repay. The talking heads seem to think this is a good idea. The Prime Minister certainly does. He stands at his lectern and - in that curiously disengaged, unimpassioned tone of his- speaks words like "daring" and "vision". To me it seems like the pit just got deeper- but who am I to be arguing with the grown-ups?
The Conservative Shadow Chancellor wants it written into the Save the Bankers deal that they can't just share out the new money among themselves in the shape of bonuses. Hear, hear! It would also be nice to see the heads of those who have awarded themselves unfeasible bonuses in the past being displayed on spikes on Temple Bar- but I don't suppose either is going to happen.
The Conservative Shadow Chancellor wants it written into the Save the Bankers deal that they can't just share out the new money among themselves in the shape of bonuses. Hear, hear! It would also be nice to see the heads of those who have awarded themselves unfeasible bonuses in the past being displayed on spikes on Temple Bar- but I don't suppose either is going to happen.