This is a disgusting preview of what is coming to America. Failure doesn't mean failure any longer in the eyes of the elite. Failure only counts when you are poor and left behind, then you're nothing more than a sponger and ought to be shunned, humiliated and kicked aside. If you ruin a global economy but dress in the best suits, drive the best cars and have as many houses as John McCain, then you're deserving. Great work, when you can get it.
Royal Bank of Scotland, which is being bailed out with £20bn of taxpayers' money, has signalled it is preparing to pay bonuses to thousands of staff despite government pledges to crack down on City pay.
The bank has set aside £1.79bn to cover "staff costs" - including discretionary bonuses - at its investment banking division for the first six months of the year alone. The same division caused a £5.9bn writedown that wiped out the bank's profits for the same period.
The government had demanded that boardroom directors at RBS should not receive bonuses this year and the chief executive, Sir Fred Goodwin, is walking away without a pay-off. But below boardroom level, RBS and other groups are preparing to pay bonuses to investment bankers who continue to generate profits.
The disclosure drew fierce criticism from Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman.
"The government said they would attach strict conditions on bonuses and it is very clear they are doing nothing of the kind.
"The banks are just making complete monkeys of them."
