Good for Goodwin

Some pretty harsh words have been exchanged between Sir Fred Goodwin (ex chief of Royal Bank of Scotland) and the rest of the world (led by HRH Gordon Brown and his non-suave crony Lord Myners) over the decision by Sir Fred to not fall on his sword and surrender his "obscene" £650,000-a-year pension (according to Shadow Chancellor George Osborne, although personally I think it would be "lovely") . It was, I suppose, inevitable that both sides would sink to the level of calling each other's behaviour "inappropriate", "unjustifiable" and "unacceptable", but that's the executive class for you: they don't pull punches.

No need to ask whose side you are on, because these days no one likes a banker, eh? But before we all dance on the grave of HBOS and side with Lord Myners in expressing distaste, let us ask what it is Fred Goodwin is being accused of. Not overseeing the disastrous-in-hindsight takeover of ABN Amro (all sides agree on that), and not for being a massively-paid executive (as Myners can claim to have been), but simply for not "listening to the public's pleas" (according to Gordon Brown on the BBC's new website, as if great swathes of ordinary people have been falling on their knees before Sir Fred, asking him to reconsider) and for having "no sense of shame" (according to Liberal Democrat Vince Cable on same page).

So, in Gordon Brown's eyes the problems of the UK economy are reduced to the problems of bank lending, and the problems of the banks are reduced to the remuneration of their directors, and the problem of remuneration is reduced to the low moral sense of those in receipt. I suppose if Sir Fred wept as he collected his pension (not from the Post Office) every month, then we would all feel a little better, and the economy would start to get 'back on track', delivery prudent year-on-year growth!

And, by the way, what good is this sense of shame? What good does it do us to feel guilty about taking home the money we feel we have earned? Once we sacrifice this, then we surely sacrifice that last ounce of self-respect that we need to defend the relative few pleasures we can afford for ourselves and our families. In October 2008, JCB workers in Rocester, Staffordshire sacrificed their salaries for the sake of saving 500 jobs, showing great "team spirit" by "looking after the needs of one another rather than the needs of the individual". In January 2009, JCB announced 700 job losses all the same. Perhaps senior management at the plant felt emboldened by the workforce's "team spirit"?

Coming back to the 'banking crisis', as a news item the whole thing is absurd - the UK Prime Minister publicly involed in a hoo-hah with someone who until quite recently was his man on the inside of the banking industry, hiding behind Lord Myners at the same time, while all around the productive economy - the thing that actually provides jobs, standards of living, a good excuse to get out of the house, etc - is failing. In such times, cowardly words such as "inappropriate" and "unacceptable" from the mouths of politicians smack of utter weakness in the face of larger forces that they have failed to understand.

So my 'plea' to Sir Fred is this: you may be a complete banker, deserving no more than 3% of your annual pension (and only then to be drawn at 65), but do not surrender it in the face of accusations of you having no sense of shame. Let your tight-fisted selfishness be a lesson to us all!