It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy... ;-)

[edam]

I don't really approve of vandalism but in Fred the Shed's case I do hope the perpetrators get away with it.

Oh, yes, the Grange is posher than posh. He does have a nice house though.

I'm amazed that so many seem to think it is ok to vanadalise someones home. I don't care who he is or what he did, vigilante actions like these are wrong. The house was empty, but what if his wife or an employee had been there? How terrifying.

I guess everyone here who thinks this is ok supports Fathers 4 Justice too?

Surely even for selfish reasons it would have been the sensible thing to give back at least a proportion of the pension or publicly give some to a charity. Dont think any money would be worth the level of (well deserved) univeral public hatred coming his way.

Lovely house

There is another thread on this. I gave my thoughts on that.

MN shocks me sometimes. Vigilante groups committing illegal criminal offences is not right. It is not good. It doesn't matter that you do't like him. He is still a victim of crime.

All the criminals (as that is what they are) ave achieved is to cost the taxpayer money - police costs, etc. Well done them eh?!

Noooo - we are paying for the vandalism through our insurance premiums. Surely a punch on the nose would be better?

I'm not sure anyone's actually condoning it, and it's an interesting leap from this to Father 4 Justice .

All I've seen on this thread is people saying that it made them smile (which it wouldn't if anyone had been at home at the time, hurt or frightened, for instance) and they could understand the level of anger.

And they object to the difference in police support for this crime against very expensive property, and crime against vulnerable low income people.

Not much to argue with there, IMHO.

the government could mollify the taxpayers somewhat if they at least stripped him of his knighthood for "services to banking". with a nice big public ceremony. speeches and everything

quite. Services to banking, indeed

I dont think what these people did to his house was right but............ I agree with the sentiment, why oh why would anyone NEED such a large pension. Its an obscene amount of money imo

It's a valid comparison - both a bunch of twats being a nuisance, thinking themselves above the law and costing the taxpayer.

People are only this angry at bankers because they are too dumb or can't be bothered to understand what is really happening to the economy. Gordon Brown is directly responsible for the banking crisis with his 'light touch' on regulations. Bankers just did what the Govt allowed them to do.

I agree Callisto, it was wrong for his house to be vandalised like this.

Still can't quite bring myself to give a shit though

Oh yeah, bankers are sooooo jolly clever mere mortals can't even begin to comprehend it... Have you not noticed they have been found out, in rather spectacular fashion?

That was not what I said Edam. The general public has no real comprehension of what caused the crisis so an easy target for their anger and fear is the banking sector. As I say, GB is the one to blame but strangely people continue to believe his bullshit.

Callisto - yes a lot of the anger at Bankers is because of what they appear to have done to the economy ( poor argument to say that they only did it cos they were allowed to - lots of things I'm "allowed" to do, but ultimately my choice)

In Fred's instance, it's now mostly because of his insistance on taking the cash, despite the massive failure and believe me, lots of bankers are mad about that too.

wrong to vandalise his house, but I won't be shedding any tears over it. But he has behaved like an arse so I'm not suprised some people have taken it that far.

what can you do though, it seems he didn't do his job very well and has just stuck 2 fingers up to everyone and walked off .

need2sleep is right, people are quite justifiably angry with Fred Goodwin for ripping us off to such an extraordinary degree. The guy has more front than Blackpool.

In any decent society, he'd be in the stocks, if not in prison.

Yes, the banking sector was stupid, short-sighted and greedy and the bubble was always going to burst, but good banking regulations would have prevented the worst excesses and we wouldn't be in quite so much trouble now.

Sadly the government believed the bankers' hype about light-touch regulation and how strong regulations would destroy innovation and creativity.

Turns out the very LAST thing you want a banker to be is creative...

Ok, so he is a shite.

His family did not deserve this though.

His kids can't go to school as they are being bullied.

Kids no you're right, no excuse for bullying. (although I'd like to know the full story - what level of arrogance do you think those offspring might have? pure speculation and I'm sorry if way off the mark)

Bet his wife has had considerable input in the decision to keep the cash.

If his children are being bullied that is wrong - but I'm not prepared to trust a word the man says.

Many many far better bankers than him have refused to take what their contracts entitle them to because they don't feel it's right.

I think Fred the Shred is a different thing entirely to the anger about the banking sector in general. It's not as if he needs the money, and RBS' problems are directly his fault, not just the fault of the banking sector and Gordon Brown, with the ill advised takeover of ABN Amro.

And as for his children being bullied - yes that's sad and not right and I don't condone it at all. But he has the cash to whisk them all off abroad away from it all, which is what he has done, so I can't feel too sorry for them.

Good post, whatfreshhell.