Hot potato.

Bankers' bonuses - what are we to make of it all?  Several points - firstly this is in great part the "politics of envy".  This is the "Old Labour" philosophy of "if I haven't got it, then you shouldn't be able to have it either".  Next, market forces.  I'm sure we've been down this road before, but if you want Wayne Rooney playing for your team, then you're going to have to pay Wayne Rooney prices.  It's not necessarily that Wayne Rooney wants it (though he probably does, and his agent almost certainly does), it's not even that Wayne Rooney is worth it, it's simply that if you don't pay it, someone else will, and you won't get him.  That's how markets work, and it's as true in the banking industry as anywhere else.  Then I can't help thinking that it's all got a lot to do with presentation.  If you learn that Mr X has a salary of £3m a year, you may cough and splutter but in general you'd probably accept it.  But if Mr X's salary is in fact £500,000 and you learn that he's getting a bonus of £2.5m, somehow that would seem far more unacceptable, despite the fact that the overall effect is identical.  And lastly, don't forget that 50% of these bonuses will be coming back to the Treasury through income tax.