Monday 24 October 2011

24th October 2011

Apparently the campers around St Paul's are digging in until Christmas.

I wonder if they are expecting Father Christmas to drop by?

Whilst it seems to me to be an over reaction by the Dean and Chapter, the closure of the Cathedral whilst the Stock Exchange remains open for business, seems to have rather missed the point of the protest.

It is clear that there is something rotten in the state of human affairs and money lies at the heart of it.

Ridiculous rewards for some, if the rumours are true Tony Blairs reward of £2M for acting as an adviser to a Bank is one example of a reward so far outweighing the effort and intelligence brought to bear on the task as to be obscene.

But the FT at the weekend continues to publish its How to Spend it Magazine and the number of zeros attached to everything from Houses, to Cars, to Televisions, to Clothes, to Watches and Furniture is truly eye watering.

But the goods on sale and the price tags suggest that the bonuses are still being paid and are out of all proportion to the effort involved in 'earning' them.

At the other end of the scale yesterday I met a group of young men who had arrived in Italy after a perilous crossing of the Mediterranean from Libya.

For three days, like St Paul, they had been 'adrift at Sea' and in 'shipwrecks often'.....

Refused entry into France, the Schengen rules appear to have been suspended at Ventimiligia, they are living in Genoa on food stamps, vouchers and handouts, but at least they have been welcomed by the Church.

The condem Government continues to act as though there is nothing wrong with the system of bonuses and disproportionate rewards and really nothing wrong with some individuals getting to eat the pies whilst others don't even qualify for the scraps from the rich mens tables.

The trickle down theory of wealth creation was discredited in the 80's and a fairer system of redistribution was introduced, perhaps history will judge Gordon Brown more kindly than the electorate did. Now however, the clock has rewound itself and we find ourselves fighting the old battles again.

I have yet to work out how a very few individuals wrongly claiming benefits, given the millions that go unclaimed, can somehow be painted as the cause of all societies ills, when others can receive millions in bonuses? I read recently that RBS paid more in bonuses than it owes the UK Government, that was payments to individual employees simply for fulfilling their job description.

The LSX protesters are right to draw attention to what is happening and right to lay the responsibility at the door of the Stock Exchange, sadly St Paul's decision to close has cast them in a dubious light, let's hope that Father Christmas brings them what they are hoping for ........

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