I don’t often get angry with things on the television, unless perhaps it’s Halifax Howard gurning his way through another pointless advert. This morning, though, I had the misfortune to sit through Adam Boulton’s interview with Angela Knight, the Chief Executive of the British Bankers Association (sorry to swear). I sat open-mouthed like the proverbial St Bernard as she calmly related to Adam Boulton that the heads of Britain’s main banks were in no way to blame for the current crisis.
The line that really did it for me was when Adam Boulton suggested that one or more of them should resign in the wake of the disastrous situation we are now in (with your and my taxes having to bail out these idiots.) Her reply was that she wasn’t looking for resignations because none of them could have seen this coming.
I’m sorry? None of them could see this coming? Well I certainly saw it coming. I’ve been saying for 4-5 years how the huge amount of escalating consumer credit, overvalued housing market and have-it-all-now culture would lead to a massive financial crisis. And I’m not the only one. Work colleagues, family members, people I’ve sat next to on trains, even some particularly intelligent squirrels – we all knew it was coming. So it’s a bit rich – no, sorry, I’ll use a different phrase; it’s utter bullshit to try to tell us now that those at the top had no idea what this would lead to.
If it is true, then all of the Chief Executives of the banks should be forced to work in my local McDonald’s, and the entire team down there at the Chester Road drive-thru should take up positions in the various boardrooms from Monday. I’d feel a lot more reassured, to be honest.
But the title of this post doesn’t refer to the heads of banks, or Angela Knight and her pearl necklace (the expensive kind). It refers to us. The little people. Why ARE we accepting this situation?
I mean, where are the student protests? In the 1960s, students would have held rooftop protests if Jimmy Saville had presented Top of the Pops sans jewellry. Check out this video:
What would motivate students to find their voices now? A 50p levy on ringtones? 20% VAT on beanie hats? Mass burning of copies of Heat magazine?
I stood up for my cause when I was a student. I was part of those ‘angry scenes’ outside parliament in February 1994 when the John Major government once again decided that gay people were second-class citizens. (My partner calls this my ‘activist’ phase – but I was no Peter Tatchell!) I did write letters to MPs, in a futile attempt to change the bigoted minds of crusty old Tories (some of whom are MPs under Cameron’s leadership) that the age of consent itself was not the issue (it could have been 18 for all I cared), it was the notion that the government thought that in some way, teenagers needed additional protection from ‘being turned gay’. We won the argument in the end. But I digress.
I really feel that in the current climate, those who wield power need to be shown how greedy and out of touch they’ve become, and that they can no longer get away with lining their pockets taxpayers money while children are still living poverty and hard-working people lose their livelihoods. Biggest example? The shameless Peter Mandelson and his £1 million Brussels payoff.
Yes, one million pounds.
His smug face on being re-employed for the third time was too much in itself – but knowing that he’ll be filling his boots as a result is just too much to bear. If he has any moral compass whatsoever, then he’ll refuse to accept it. It’s simply obscene.
For too long, people have sat back and accepted everything that the government and private companies have thrown at us. The energy companies’ profiteering. Endless stealth taxes. Huge fatcat bonuses. Because we’ve all been hoodwinked into believing the economy is fine; because for a while now, we’ve all been able to afford that iPod we wanted, or that nice big-screen HD ready TV, or that new car paid for by a nice secured loan on the equity we’ve built up in property – we’ve been happy to let the madness continue.
So I hope my next prediction comes true; as people become more and more exasperated by the greedy, selfish actions of the wealthy; as the revelations continue as to how bad it actually is; as it dawns on students that it’s their futures that have been totally fucked over; as hard-working people realise how much they’ve been shat upon, then many previously mild-mannered, trusting people will start to find their voices, and they’ll start to show – through direct action – just how pissed off they really are.
Keep your head back, and your arms and legs inside the car. We’re all in for one hell of a ride.
