Martin Rowson on David Cameron and City bonuses - cartoon
PM to push for shareholders to get a binding vote on executive pay deals
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Comments
8 January 2012 9:55PM
This was not intended to change anything; it is a distraction intended to create confusion about high pay for the 1%.
8 January 2012 9:55PM
I think it says 'What a useless failing runt'
8 January 2012 9:58PM
Police have begun to evict members of Occupy Lancaster protest without due cause and therefore in contravention of the 1977 Criminal Law Act protecting squatters rights. The right wing totalitarian state is upon us.
8 January 2012 10:13PM
I like this, the runt is going nowhere whilst the giddiot has a burst prosthetic breast for sale.
8 January 2012 10:16PM
As CallmeDave rides the kitty around the tower of babylon the rabbits are quietly planning a rebellion
Enjoy the ride Dave ...
8 January 2012 10:18PM
I could be wrong on the Gid but would love to know exactly why this person occupies the second most important office in government?
8 January 2012 10:19PM
Speaking of Escher inspired things, the multidimensional staircases, 'relativity' reminds sensible people a bit of trying to work out how much you actually owe on a credit card.
8 January 2012 10:22PM
Lovely rendition of Escher - round and round they go chasing the money. Dave's not trying to tame that Fat Cat, his focus on staying for the glorious ride and the inevitable rewards that our outdated Establishment wants to maintain at any cost.
Kudos Martin, and empiricism indeed.
8 January 2012 10:22PM
because he is a mate of callmeDave, he had enough money not to want to change the status quo and he is stopping anyone useful occupying the job
8 January 2012 10:23PM
FTSE100 bosses' pay up 33% last year.
Value of their companies up 24% last year.
Inflation tipping 5,2% by the end of the year.
Your wages going absolutely fucking nowhere last year. Or this. Or next.
But hey, it's all relative.
8 January 2012 10:25PM
Calm down, readers.... it's not tourettes, it's empiricism.
Well said, Martin! 'Empirical' is the new 'reactionary'?
Is that Dr. Vince Cable leaving the building? Or was he ejected??
8 January 2012 10:26PM
yawn...
change the record.
8 January 2012 10:27PM
As always with CartoonistRowson so many things to appreciate; the Escher type building with the fat cats circulating on the remuneration committees gifting each other obscene amounts of money; Cable awarded the white feather for running from the battle; Danny Alexander falling down the ladder; presumably the employees' representative pushed out of the way and in the midst CallMe pretending to rein in the bonus/high pay culture. And all the time the vultures circle. Not sure of Gideon's role here but there's enough without that to call all-Me's bluff!
8 January 2012 10:29PM
Shareholders vote wont make a difference.
Cameron, bankers and the fat cats are all in it together
8 January 2012 10:36PM
Round and round and round the gravy train goes when it will stop nobody knows......it's a farce and a whitewash they are not going to make any difference - we know that and they know it just seems to be the press yet again who take in every word of it and blindly unquestioningly reproduces it - lemmings.
Cameron....
"A major reform of executive pay that would rein in what he called "crony capitalism", where underperforming executives were seen to "fill their boots". Shareholders would have to approve salary packages and, crucially, pay-offs, instead of simply having advisory votes as at present."
Telegraph
Yes and seeing as the majority shareholders are those who had a say in the appointment and pay conditions of those people I'm sure they're going to vote against what they've already decided leaving the other 49% twiddling their thumbs. Yet another con job.
Funny how the Danny boy and Vince are the only ones who can't enter in no matter how much they try and forever will be kept out of the loop and yet they still cling on to Camerons coat tails. Fools. Crony capitalists the lot of them.
8 January 2012 10:37PM
Who'll be kind enough to push for voters to receive policies that resemble pre-election pledges or does his sense of fair play begin and end with shareholders ?
Would journalists kindly cease to use the words 'vow' and 'pledge' when describing politicians' intentions; it is very misleading terminology.
8 January 2012 10:41PM
I thought Escher was more for physicists and mathematicians.
It is the fist time I see Escher in a political cartoon.
But it portrays the type of system we are in. Chasing an illusion higher and higher without getting higher. Monks replaced by fat cats.
It is a bit like the the waterfall. The illusion of an endless form of energy.
8 January 2012 10:42PM
Brilliant analysis. I never even recognised the presence of a rodent, just the subvermin Torietariat. So thanks for that. Are you sure it's a ginger one tho'?
Is he not just pushing away the ladder that lets 'new entrants' get into plutarch tower, a closed system which his economic policies is making even more 'privileged', more powerful?
CartoonistRowson gives us plenty to deconstruct!
8 January 2012 10:42PM
More brilliance from Martin Rowson, more rubbish from David Cameron.
....and back in the City and company boardrooms everything will carry on as usual complete with freshly warmed seats for compliant ex ministers/PMs/politicians. The whole lot stinks to High Heaven and I'm sick of it.
8 January 2012 10:43PM
OOOOPS.. "plutarch' tower, meant PLUTOCRAT tower..
8 January 2012 10:48PM
In Cameron's interview with Andrew Marr this morning he was very complementary about Vince Cable, to the extent that he said that he didn't want to 'steal his thunder' prior to tomorrows announcement.
Cynical me translates that as when the inevitable shit hits the fan over these proposals Dave will say it was a LibDem proposal and hang Vince out to dry. Alternatively if they're universally accepted, (cue pigs flying across a blue moon), then Cameron will accept all the credit.
8 January 2012 10:50PM
That's Alexander's false ball he's holding.
8 January 2012 10:51PM
Escher and cats. Two of my favourite things. But who has the happy moneybag just pushed into the well of the tower?
8 January 2012 10:55PM
Me too. And a worker on the remuneration panels??? NEVER! Publish remuneration data to provide transparency? Sure.... as soon as he can work out what decision he veto'd to save the city of london tax haven!
Altho' he might press an "A" when he meant an "O", we all know who has put this issue on the political radar... and, Mr Hutton, it wasn't you!
You awake, yet Ed?
8 January 2012 10:57PM
Yes, someone please change the Conservative and their Cronies record for uselessness. Soon.
8 January 2012 10:58PM
I think it's Clegg - I hope it's Clegg :)
8 January 2012 10:58PM
Good one Cartoonist Rowson and I recognise those wooden legs disappearing into the abyss - there's actually more Lib Dems than Tories in this cartoon which must be a first. Rusbridger won't like that. And when you come to think about it, beyond their two incompetent front men, Cameron and Osborne, the Tories have nothing but even more incompetents to back them up. They have a totally useless front bench devoid of any talent whatsoever.
The former national treasure Vince with his feather to beat the bankers, and Danny boy, seem to be sneaking out - or sneaking in backwards. Whatever, the fat cat merry go round won't be knocked off track by anything Cameron says especially as the institutional shareholders are led by fat cats anyway. It's all a ruse to deflect attention from his latest gaffe about Tourettes sufferers and of course, it'll grab tomorrow's headlines.
The vultures are circling but sadly there won't be any carrion today, nor for a while yet.
8 January 2012 11:01PM
it's yet another Camron pr stunt
what he's actually doing
is running with the fox but also hunting with the hounds
there is nothing at all resolute in this rhetoric.
8 January 2012 11:01PM
I did notice that. At first I comtemplated Clegg or Ed Miliband but the shoes and (jeans? Blue trousers?) Do not fit either of their characters as Rowson draws them. I shall think more on this, someone else will probably come up with it though.
8 January 2012 11:04PM
I personally think not. Clegg is a puppet and they are not wooden legs.
8 January 2012 11:04PM
It was the way he gave ground, far too easy and not like Dave to pass over a political opportunity. Private sector pay is shrouded in secrecy, where I used to work discussing your salary was a disciplinary offence, imagine how the bonus/pension/share options/private health ins/remuneration package/travel allowance etc etc would even enter the public remit.
I expect the legal team of every FTSE100 company have been briefed to put as many obstacles and challenges together to fight any interference from the Government, and I bet that Dave's been fully briefed by the CEO's that bankroll the party also.
8 January 2012 11:08PM
I went by the falling one's hair colour. I don't think Gideon's leaning out enough to make contact with the ladder and he's holding something which I can't see clearly - maybe someone else could enlighten us. If it is a PIP implant as suggested above I'm don't see how that fits the theme.
On Empiricism I'm not sure I get that either. Is Rowson saying all we need is our senses to know Call-Me's a ******* If so I'd agree!
I hope you got my thanks for your patience in explaining 'blockquote' before the last cartoon thread disappeared. I couldn't believe how stupid I had been .... except that I do have plenty of such experience.
8 January 2012 11:09PM
Last post meant as response - think I've illustrated my last point too.
8 January 2012 11:12PM
It may not be ball implants.
But Danny ****ing **** is probably hoping it is. He's got none of his own.
8 January 2012 11:12PM
Cameron's "cunning plan" ignores the City practice of margin account vote duplication. Stock brokers create margin accounts for every shareholder on the stock-exchange in order to facilitate hedge bets and, crucially, to duplicate votes at any targeted company's AGM or wherever a major policy decision is taken at non-executive level. The purpose of this practice, which would be considered fraudulent in any other walk of life, is to manipulate policy to the maximum advantage of City asset-strippers, hedge predators, and to rig the value of IPO's. If there was a ballot called on the subject of executive remuneration the City traders would simply rig the election. No prizes for guessing the outcome.
And Thatcher had the brassneck to criticise trade union voting practices. If the repressive trade union legislation enacted by Tory and New Labour governments had been, ahem, duplicated for the City of London traders we would not currently be held to ransom by them. What we have now is a dictatorship of the super-rich financial class. What they forget is that historically all capital has been generated by the labour of working class people. With this in mind it is not such a big step to conclude that these super-wealthy elites do not have any right to their "millions and billions" at all. If things go on as they are it will not be a safe haven for their investments they will be agonising over, it will be a safe haven for themselves from the anger of the millions of people they have ruthlessly exploited.
Beaker upside down on the ladder is a nice touch, good to see Rowson back and in such fine form.
8 January 2012 11:14PM
Nearly as bad as Downing Street excusing it as remark made 'off the cuff' as if that makes it's alright is the following reasoning from Melanie Phillips who coming to his defence thinks the reaction is over the top.....wait till you read this.....you have to laugh.....
"This calls to mind the fuss over George Osborne’s throwaway joke more than five years ago that suggested that Gordon Brown had autism.
Both remarks displayed that effortless public school cruelty that has caused Mr Cameron to be compared with Flashman, the bully in Tom Brown’s Schooldays.
Nevertheless, the outraged reaction in each case was surely more than a touch over the top. After all, the targets of these insults were clearly Ed Balls and Gordon Brown — and no one else."
So that makes it alright then? Unbelievable.
8 January 2012 11:19PM
Splendid imagery with the bastions of fat-cattery just like the Endless Stairs Illusion [The Penrose stairs]. This is an impossible object in which the senses play tricks with the reality. Cameron’s endless PR-style deceptions are similarly meant to confuse the gullible punters whose credulity he is intent on exploiting
It would pay us all to “Develop a built-in bullshit detector.”[ Hemingway] whenever Cameron opens his mouth.
8 January 2012 11:20PM
Nah - those legs are made of pine, old Christmas trees probably, a soft wood that warps when the heat is on and is prone to rot and woodworm if left untreated. It's got to be Clegg. Or maybe Alan Rusbridger - now that really would be something to behold! Maybe Cartoonist Rowson will let us know.
8 January 2012 11:24PM
Well lets face it the whole LIbDem party require implants,a brain would be a start.
8 January 2012 11:29PM
Thanks for that, Lightacandle. It just proves to me that these Tories know their divisiveness is re-energising class-warfare. It is their intention. They've got a plan, and it is working beautifully!
by her own logic tho', if (the heroic) Ed Balls and the (much-missed) Gordon Brown are the lowest level entities, then does she not owe autistic- and taurettes-affected people an apology?
Clearly not. Rightwingers only appreciate their 'betters' (socio-economically and financially), the rest of us are just foot-soldiers for them to win their ideological battles with.
8 January 2012 11:34PM
Hiya LAC - good evening to you.
This is a lift from the Guardian's news page:
That weasel word "if" has once again sneaked into a Tory apology. To my mind that means Cameron is not sorry at all which is par for the course. Personally, I think Cameron should "fuck off" but that's not Tourettes it's empiricism and I'm sorry if I have offended him.
8 January 2012 11:36PM
From one of Maurits Cornelis Escher best drawings, Ascending and descending.
Great cartoon.
8 January 2012 11:39PM
Surely, Cameron suffers from Torygits syndrome - characterised thus: make plenty of patronising, meaningless speeches with snout firmly in trough; whilst simultaneously victimising the poor, the elderly, the disabled and the rest of society's most vulnerable for the fat cats and city banksters fucking up of the economy...
Still, Melanie Phillips' fretting about the unfairness and victimisation of Call-Me-Combover succeeds in emphasising his utter crassness...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2083994/Tourettes-David-Cameron-fell-victim-the.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
8 January 2012 11:44PM
So everytime a "visitor", troll or blairite mentions Union Block Votes (which haven't existed in the labour movement since 1994), we should mention 'margin account vote duplication' and tie it to how the city of london and rightwing neoliberals use it to de-democratise our institutions?
Check!
So much to learn....
But seriously, can this practice not be taken to the European Courts of Justice?
Sounds dodgy to me!
8 January 2012 11:53PM
The electorate (aka the 99%).
8 January 2012 11:56PM
I haven't chuckled so helplessly for months, thanks ucic!
BUT - are you sure it's torygits, it sounds remarkably similar to ToryShits, which is, actually, a clinical condition, although todate fewer than 52 people have actually received public money for suffering from it - and for the record - ATOS will not accept it as a justified reason for not working - but will write a letter of recommendation for a cabinet posting!
8 January 2012 11:57PM
Jebus babsicbridge!...Make an effort will you - we have 'retorting' standards you know?
8 January 2012 11:58PM
This is a really witty cartoon!
The Escher-esque optical illusion describes so brilliantly the illogical policies and rhetoric of this insane government.
Everything they say seems as though it should make sense but of course it simply doesn't because it's just some mad construct of out-of-control spin. And yes, for the most part they are getting away with it, riding on the back of the fat cats and chasing the market. When will they be held to account for their ridiculous and destructive politics?
9 January 2012 12:00AM
Hey Pele- and a good evening to you too Sir!
You made me laugh......maybe because it's winter Clegg has got long trousers on instead of shorts and replaced his sandals with shoes - there - so your most favoured scenario would still fit - or yes perhaps if its Rusbridger in his his weekend casuals that could fit too.....I'm sure we could work it out somehow.......
And Baddog - how about this one - keep looking at and you'll soon get dizzy - who needs alcohol.....
http://www.freakingnews.com/pictures/58000/Escher-s-Relativity-58422.jpg
9 January 2012 12:01AM
Lol...btw, you're absolutely correct qwertboi, Toryshits or Toryshites it is!