In case anyone was under any illusion about Liz Truss, the latest Tory plans to enrich the ultra-rich by getting rid of the cap on bankers’ bonuses spell it out in bold – the nasty party is back.
There is no doubt about the agenda for the Truss premiership, short or long as it may be. That is to cut taxes for the rich, get rid of rules and protections that fetter the greed and excess of rampant capitalism and allow a breed of profiteering Tory cronies, already bloated from Covid contracts, to cash in as quickly as possible.
The plans being floated to end the cap on bankers’ bonuses could not be more blatant. It is as if the 2008 crash, symbolised by the greed is good reign of Fred “The Shred” Goodwin at the Royal Bank of Scotland had never happened.
The very people who drove the economy off the road, who broke the banking system, who we bailed out without a single jail sentence, have got their marionette Chancellor and Prime Minister in place. Now they expect their reward. Not even Boris Johnson, at his most boosterish, dared give his banking friends freedom from the rules that stopped their bonuses at double their annual salaries.
Johnson, at least, could read how people who are frightened about how they will keep the lights on and the house warm this winter would react. This is the toxic Tories at their worst, refusing to impose a windfall tax on the massive profits of the energy companies, getting the public to pay for their bail-out and cutting corporation tax for big firms.
Hell mend them. If Truss’s first instinct is to feed the greed rather than feed the needy then her time at Downing Street will be cursed and short.
Family’s pride
Many families across Scotland will have their own special memories relating to the Queen.
Throughout her 70-year reign she touched the lives of thousands and visited communities from Lerwick to Berwick. That is why events around her sad passing have touched the lives of so many.
But for one family, the Queen’s funeral on Monday will take on special significance. Young Royal Navy sailor Murray Kerr, from Ayr, will be in the guard of honour as the Queen’s funeral takes place at Westminster Abbey.
In the same place, almost 70 years earlier, his grandfather John was a young Scots Guardsman assigned to protect the Queen on the day of her coronation. It must be a source of great pride to the Kerr family that these two servicemen are involved in such momentous events.
Like the Royal Family, they have a tradition of service and duty that spans the generations.
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