For the Knights and Lords, Dames and Ladies of British Industry

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Siege_perilleux_galaad.jpgDecember 2012 saw a former chief of the Financial Services Authority (Hector Sants) and December 2013 a former deputy governor of the Bank of England (Paul Tucker) knighted. Men whose responsibilities included regulating the banks during the banking crash. They joined the array of lords and knights in the well padded seats of the City of London's financial district.Every bank, insurance company and investment firm covets a noble or two to adorn its board. What could possibly go wrong if...

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New Years Resolutions - should we have faith that goodness will come from within?

We at Ripped-Off Britons have kept our focus on those who rip off within the law. The targets of our blog posts and cartoons are as likely to be seen glowing in the company of princes and bishops as sweating in a commons committee or court room. The role call of lords and knights passing through Parliament's Grimond Room in 2012 sounds like a list of nobles sitting at the Round Table in King Arthur's Camelot. Actually they were perched on the naughty seats attesting to the disgrace of the Banking industry in front of the Parliamentary...

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New Year's Resolution - Tax Dodgers

By Richard MurphyAdviser to the Tax Justice Network and the TUC on taxation and economic issues. He is also the director of Tax Research LLP.Can I shock the world and say what I’d really like someone to do in the New Year has something to do with tax? I believe in tax. I think it’s the price we pay for living in a decent, democratic, wealth generating and wealth sharing democracy. I don’t think we’d have any of those things without a strong tax system. So I don’t like tax cheats. They abuse the system, undermine democracy, increase...

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New Years Resolution - Transport Industry

By Richard Hebditch, Campaigns Director, Campaign for Better Transport.The one New Year's resolution Campaign for Better Transport would like is for Patrick McLoughlin, the Transport Secretary, to resolve that 2013's rail fare rises will be the last to be set above inflation.The rises on 2 January 2013 are the tenth anniversary of above inflation fare rises. Increasing them by one per cent above inflation year after year has meant that they are now outstripping wage increases by ever increasing amounts. For many on low to middle incomes,...

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New Year's Resolution - Bankers

By Honestly Banking, the undercover bankerLooking back over 2012, we've seen the world of banking plumb new depths. Libor rigging, Interest Rate Swap scandals, money laundering to name just a few. For 2013 we would like bankers to resolve to simply take personal responsibility to do the right thing. This means having the moral courage to speak out and blow the whistle when something is wrong. To put customers first and stop the greed. We should have the moral courage to welcome legislators giving regulators...

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New Year's Resolution - The Excessively Paid

By Deborah Hargreaves, Founding Director of the High Pay CentreHighly paid bosses' New Year's resolution should be to give up their bonuses and award their workforce a pay rise instead. A chief executive of a big company earns on average £4.8 million or 185 times average wages, and some bankers are on even more than that. Surely, they can't spend all that?It's about time the rest of us got a pay rise. While top bosses have seen their pay  treble in the past 10 years, average earnings have increased...

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