Author Archives: George Turner

Banks: too large to care?

By George Turner | Published 3rd August 2009 - 10:41 pm

The phrase “bonuses are back” should fill us all with disgust. The taxpayer’s money is being used to support an industry which is in turn paying out staggering amounts to its employees in compensation. Barclays Capital, Barclays’ investment banking arm has announced that it has made profits of £3bn on the first six months of this year. This implies an average pay out of £100,000 for the 22,000 people that work there just for this period.

We should not be fooled by the idea that because Barclays did not receive any funds from the government directly that these profits are …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 9 Comments

Opinion: Berlusconi is no joke

By George Turner | Published 15th July 2009 - 2:45 pm

Silvio Berlusconi, with his outlandish behaviour and flamboyant lifestyle, may be hard to take seriously – but he is certainly no joke. Behind his carefree playboy public image is a man who is damaging democracy in the heart of Europe.

Berlusconi is a man who clearly likes to enjoy himself, and I am sure that his parties are a lot of fun to attend. Perhaps justifiably, some have asked whether this in itelf is really at all relevant, whether we should take Berlusconi at his word when he says, “Italians like me as I am, I won’t change”, and leave it …

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Posted in Europe / International, Op-eds | 4 Comments

Opinion: the worst outcome of MPs’ expenses, a victory for the far right?

By George Turner | Published 20th May 2009 - 2:15 pm

PoliticsHome recently carried some rather shocking numbers from a poll that it conducted between the 14-15 of May saying that over a quarter of British voters have changed their voting intentions as a result of the MPs’ expenses scandal. The main beneficiary it seems is UKIP, with 28% of those changing loyalty to the anti-European Union party. The second biggest beneficiary is the BNP with 16%.

Leaving aside for a moment the thoroughly disagreeable politics of these parties, any gain by UKIP or the BNP in the European elections on the basis of anger over expenses would be a …

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Posted in Op-eds, Opposition watch | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Opinion: We will continue to reward failure in our banks, until we reform severance pay

By George Turner | Published 15th April 2009 - 8:05 pm

Large potential severance payments continue to be built into the executive pay packages of directors of the newly nationalized UK banks. If the banking system is to be reformed, we must make make executives truly responsible for the decisions they take.

Bankers used to justify their disproportionately large paychecks and bonuses by arguing that they took on exceptional amounts of risk in their pay. Bankers were paid a large proportion of their income in shares, which reflected the value of the bank. If they did not perform, neither would their companies and neither would their shares. In short, bankers …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Opinion: Wilders’ Contradictions

By George Turner | Published 13th February 2009 - 1:22 pm

The proclamation by Geert Wilders, as he was being detained awaiting deportation yesterday, that he was being denied his inalienable right of freedom of speech as a citizen has unfortunately provoked many members of the Liberal grass roots to his defence. I say unfortunately because Wilders’ freedom of speech is nothing more than a rhetorical trojan horse to allow him to propagate an ideology that runs so contrary to anything that may be called liberal or free.

Wilders himself is certainly no believer in freedom of speech. A 2007 article for the Volkskrant, a Dutch daily paper, called for a …

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Posted in Op-eds | 24 Comments