A load of noughts.

So what about this business of RBS Chief Stephen Hester and his £1m (well nearly) bonus.  The public - well the press really - have effectively forced him to give it up. Right or wrong?  I would just make two points - firstly "bonus" has become a dirty word, but essentially what we are talking about here is performance related pay.  You meet these targets and we will pay you such-and-such over and above your basic salary - and this is a fairly common arrangement between employers and employees at all levels.  Which leads us on to my second point - if his bonus had been £50,000 say, it's very unlikely that it would even have been commented on. It's only the fact that we are dealing with what for most people are fairy-tale figures that makes it newsworthy.  Which I am afraid raises the uncomfortable question as to whether this is all really about envy.