Did somebody say something about populism?

Sphere: Related Content

We're sure they did.... Read more...

Ah yes, it was us.

Well, it was Iain Martin actually but he got the free plug so he can button his lip.

Boris' acid quill is really on form here....

She is meant to be Labour's deputy leader. She is a solicitor, and an alumna of Hammersmith's highly regarded, fee-paying St Paul's School for Girls, and she can sometimes be perfectly pleasant and rational. But here is a sample of Harman's ravings on the subject of Sir Fred and his pension: "He should not be counting on being £650,000 a year better off as a result of this, because it's not going to happen," she told the BBC. "It will not be accepted."

There. Savour the bleating leftie inanity of that sentiment: it will not be accepted. By whom will it not be accepted, Hattie, and how will it not be accepted? Since she agrees – in the same breath – that the details of Sir Fred's severance from the Royal Bank of Scotland may, in fact, be watertight, her highly trained legal mind must envisage some change in the law.

Does she really imagine that parliamentary draftsmen should be now at work on the Fred Goodwin Pension Reclamation Bill? In which case, exactly how much of Sir Fred's pension does she think should be recouped? All of it? Or just 95 per cent of it? And what about all the other cock-up artists who used to be in charge of the Royal Bank, and what about the people who made a hash of Northern Rock, and all the bankers who have been kicked out of institutions in which the state has been obliged to take a share?

Will their assets be expropriated under the same Act? How will their guilt be determined, or will Hattie just put on her leopardskin accessories and stomp and jingle through the City, waving her calabash rattle and sniffing out the culprits?
Sir Fred's settlement is nauseating; it is unbelievable. But it will be accepted, and it must be accepted, because it already has been accepted – by Harriet Harman's ministerial colleague.

Certain people who like to characterise Boris Johnson as buffoon (we bet Northern Monkey likes to show that one off to his friends) need to haul their necks in.

It should be perfectly clear to anyone with a brain that he is anything but.