Andy
Coulson is in the news again, this time it is because of the allegation
that he was being paid by News International while he was working
for David Cameron.
That sentence conjures up all sorts of juicy gossip, but although
he was being paid by News International, it turns out he was receiving
several hundred thousand pounds as severance pay, over a period
of time. Plus he also got his company car and health insurance
from News International during his employment with David Cameron.
So nothing wrong there then!
You may remember that Andy Coulson resigned as editor of the News
of the World, when the News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman
and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire were both
jailed for hacking into phones of the royal household during
2007. Now I could be wrong in my old fashioned ways, I always
thought that if you resigned, that it was of your choice and you
didn’t get paid severance pay. Severance pay was only paid
if you were given an ultimatum; resign, or be sacked.
I am probably wrong in my old fashioned ideas and old fashioned
morality. Fortunately for Mr. Coulson he landed a £275,000
a year job, six months later with David Cameron. I seem to remember
that Cameron said that any officials employed by local or national
governments, should not be paid more than the P.M. whose salary
is £140,000 p.a. That’s beside the point really; the
tax payer can afford to pay these ridiculously high salaries,
can’t they?
What is perplexing is why News International paid the severance
pay in the first place, and why they didn’t pay it all at
once, as you would expect. There must be some good reason why
they paid out over a period of time.
The phone hacking scandal will run for a few years yet, and as
I understand it the police are investigating cases of people having
their computers hacked as well.
The London riots brought out the worst in people, and the best.
It was a refreshing site to see all those people out on the streets
with their sweeping brushes and bin liners, clearing up the carnage
left by the rioters. Businesses are responding well to the riots,
we delivered a large van load of plastic cups, plates and cutlery
to a big store, which was holding a street party. RBS have offered
businesses a loan of £25,000, interest free for the first
six months to businesses affected by the riots, until these businesses
get their insurance payouts through. In the event the insurance
payouts don’t materialise after six months, RBS will offer
these businesses a competitive rate of interest on the loan.
In addition a fund offering emergency help to small businesses
affected by this month's riots has been launched. The £3m
raised so far by the High Street Fund has come from the Mayor
of London and a number of large firms including Barclays, BP and
Lloyds. This initiative is in addition to the government's £20m
High Street Support Scheme, which will be distributed by councils.
The governments promise to first cap immigration, then reduce
it has resulted in an increase in net immigration by 20% over
the last year.
If you like
this article, hit the “Like” button.
Vic
Farron RFT
Express. .
Follow us on Twitter
::[ over 83,000 already do] ::Be a fan
on Facebook
:: and Blogspot
[comment on Blogspot
and our Hosted
Blog, and BT
Tradespace, all high Google Page Ranks
] ::Bookmark this page using the
‘Share’ button
