In todays Times Bankers and their camp followers defend their right to massive bonuses. We pick out one for your education, delectation and outrage:The Wife
“I know some people look at our lifestyle and cringe and it does sometimes embarrass me. We have the obligatory double-fronted house in a communal garden in Notting Hill, with a gardener, a housekeeper/cook, a cleaner, a chauffeur, a nanny and a tutor. But it has come at a huge price. Most of the time I feel like a single mother — my husband comes home now and again, repacks his suitcase and is off to another European city. We do use Netjet for our Ibiza summer holidays but that is because he gets only one holiday a year, and even then he spends most of the time pacing up and down the beach on his BlackBerry in his Vilebrequins. He can never make our son’s parents’ evenings and missed our daughter playing the lead in the school play. I don’t think he has ever swum with the children in our pool. Even they sometimes wonder whether all the quad bikes, Nintendo Wiis and skiing weekends are worth it. I had to give up my career to keep the family together and he now looks 20 years older than I do. We make a huge effort to go to charitable events and are continually entertaining clients. But he missed my surprise 40th birthday party because he was on a conference call. If it wasn’t for the bonus, it wouldn’t be worth it.”
There, there. I am sure we are all happy to go on making it worth it for you.
