I just hope the US president sticks to his guns. Banking has to be brought back to the basics of providing businesses and countries with a sound financial framework, not an insane game that benefits only those playing it.
And, for the record, we’ve also got to do something about their size. Isn’t that what the Monopolies Commission and the FSA are supposed to be controlling” If a bank is too big to fail; it is too big? Never again can we allow ourselves to be blackmailed by this bunch of crooks in pin-striped suits saying, "If you don’t save us, we’ll take you all down".So Mr Brown, take a leaf out of Obama’s book from across the pond and see if you can show some leadership for a change! While I’m on the subject, in the week it was reported Goldman Sachs is to reward its bankers with a 57 per cent rise, an interesting question has been posed: do bankers’ bonuses really work? It would take a three-volume book rather than just this column to provide an answer, except to say that the only thing that is certain, in my opinion, is that the bankers still think they are cleverer than the rest of us and that gives them the right to cash in. The thing is, from what I’ve seen lately in the Alistair Darling versus the banks battle, they’re certainly more than a match for the chancellor and his motley crew. There has been a lot of rhetoric from current and ex-bankers, academics and media types, but no-one seems to have taken the common-sense approach. For a person to deserve to earn £1m, they must be extremely talented or prepared to risk everything they have for a big payout. It’s that simple, no exceptions. It’s what entrepreneurs do everyday. While the bankers are desperate to keep our money to themselves, there are some people willing to use it to help out others. A guy called Scott Cargill is taking on a fantastic challenge to raise funds for the Honey Rose Foundation, one of the charities I worked with on Secret Millionaire. Scott is going to walk from Liverpool to London with the aid of nothing more than a GPS watch and a Google Map in March to support the foundation. This is more excellent news for the charity, which recently achieved an amazing milestone of helping over 500 terminally ill people enjoy special days out. After seeing Honey Rose on Secret Millionaire, Scott has decided to make the foundation the recipient of all his fundraising efforts this year. Anyone who wants to support Scott can contact him at [email protected] It’s nice to know that this has come on the back of my appearance on the programme and again proves there are still some truly genuine people out there.
Charlie Mullins launched Pimlico Plumbers in 1979 with just a bag of tools and a very old van bought at auction. It now has over 133 professional plumbers and a support team of around 35 staff, with a turnover of more than £15m.
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