I worked for NatWest for 29 years and was made redundant not long after RBS took natwest over so i have no sympathy for fred goodwin. however, the decisions that brought the bank to ruin were made by the board of the bank, yet he seems to be made a spacegoat or hate figure for the ills of the entire world economy. many of those board members have secured roles in other banks or elsewhere and have escaped scot free. removing fred goodwins knighthood seems strange to me, others have had knighthoods removed for committing crimes (jeffery archer, lester piggott) but, to my knowledge fred goodwin has not broken any laws.
what crime has he committed?
Are you seriously arguing this clam deserves a knighthood?
Losing the country ?ú60 billion should definitely count against you to be sure.
Are you seriously arguing this clam deserves a knighthood?
Losing the country ?ú60 billion should definitely count against you to be sure.
As you say, he's still got his huge pension, if they really wanted to make a gesture why not target that? What difference does it make if he's Sir Fred or Fred? Maybe a slight dent to his ego. I'm sure his 900k'll help soothe that away. I guess it depends how much stock you put in the honours system, but to me they wanted to be seen to do something, and this was all they had.This isn't a token gesture, its recognition of the damage that he did to the global economy through his incompetence and poor leadership.
He should never have been knighted in the first place. That said, taking it off him sends out a terrible message to the rest of the world.