The Spectator

Letters | 28 February 2009

Spectator readers respond to recent articles

issue 28 February 2009

Bonus issue

Sir: Ross Clark (‘Big bonuses in the public sector’, 21 February) summed up the challenge we face. The Institute of Fiscal Studies figure Clark quotes of a 12 per cent premium on public compared to private sector pay should be drilled into all taxpayers’ heads the way Mrs Thatcher used to hit Neil Kinnock with figures.

At a recent Conservative event, a member of the public suggested a riposte to Gordon Brown’s lame attempt to blame the current economic crisis all on the bankers: a blanket 30 per cent pay-cut for all public sector staff being paid over £150,000 and a 20 per cent cut for those on over £100,000. This would turn the ‘Cedric Brown fat cat’ pre-1997 Blair campaign back on Brown and his BBC cronies.

I could not possibly comment, other than to say those in the room from the bureaucrat class turned pale white!

Tony Devenish
Councillor, Westminster City Council
London SW1

Sir: Ross Clark just misses the bull’s-eye.

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