Saturday, June 11, 2011
Kingpin
Bank of England Governor Mervyn King gets knighthood in Birthday Honours list
The boss of the central bank has been honoured for efforts to stabilise and rebuild Britain's economy - despite being accused of being "asleep at the wheel" at the onslaught of the financial crisis.
Posted by dill @ 08:19 AM (4449 views)
19 thoughts on “Kingpin”
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paul says:
King’s knighthood for his ‘services to banking’ was long predicted here.
He wasn’t asleep at the wheel at the beginning of the crisis, he was asleep at the wheel at the start of the preceding boom. He *created* the crisis by ignoring property inflation for five years.
In addition, just to underline his role in stoking the credit boom, there’s this.
cyril says:
fantastic – now Merv’s been paid off, maybe interest rates might rise? Personally I would rather have Bruce Forthyth in charge.
will says:
Maybe the queen will slip a bit.
icarus says:
BoE governors usually become lords, as King no doubt will.
A mountain of evidence was brought to the BoE in 1989-90 that BCCI, the rogue bank of the ’80s, was systematically engaged in dirty tricks (drugs, money laundering, illegal arms….the list goes on) ‘globally’ and was using its London location (and its Saudi backers) as a respectability front. Robin Leigh-Pemberton, then BoE governor, ignored the evidence and said that BoE supervision “has served the community well…if we closed down a bank every time we found an instance of fraud we would have rather fewer banks than we have at the moment” The Price Waterhouse report on BCCI remains confidential on the grounds that it would disturb Britain’s “international partners”.
Leigh-Pemberton is now Lord Kingsdown.
hpwatcher says:
Reward for failure…
paranoia blue says:
‘“Arise†Sir Merv’ – an “interesting†irony!â€
richy richless says:
You could not make it up..
richy richless says:
You could not make it up..
watchman says:
This country is a joke. I’m working with all my heart to try and get out of here. It’s just one farce after another…
icarus says:
You may think that gongs from the queen are in lieu of bigger salaries, but no – King gets a much bigger salary than Bernanke.
vindicated says:
Look away now. I think i’m going to blub.
peter says:
Knighthood for “services to the UK political elite” or perhaps “outstanding work in currency debauchment” more like.
This just rubs salt into savers’ wounds and shows what a laughing stock this place has become.
It is surely no accident that the Telegraph editors (all ‘safe pairs of hands’ no doubt) have chosen not to allow any comments on this article.
brickormortis says:
A disaster of an economy, an appointment with the queen and a large sword – he must have been pooping himself!
mark wadsworth says:
Peter, add “and services to Home-Owner-Ism” to that list, he’s pushed up prices and reduced the number of owner-occupiers (increased the number of tenants) more than anybody (altho’ Eddie George gave it the first big push until 2003).
Billp says:
In the footsteps of Sir Fred the Shred we get Sir Mervyn the Undeserving.
mark wadsworth says:
paul says:
Very good Mark. Must say I’d have preferred something a little more Benny Hill-esque. This man is probably one of the least deserving of a knighthood I can think of in recent years.
Cornishtinmine says:
@Cyril – I agree – “nice to see you to see you nice” – (to MPC) “I’m the joker in the place, with 4 little aces who set the pace”… “higher or lower?” “what? freeze??! Again??!!”
Rental John says:
Sir Inept of Laxshire