Friday 15 April 2016

Boaty McBoatface II & BP


Ref Boaty McBoatface; I was having a look at some of the nominations and there's actually an entry with nearly 400 votes for the name RRS Ernest Shackleton - the voters for that name being unaware there already is an RRS Ernest Shackleton. The votes for David Attenborough were wasted as he appears twice - once as David Attenborough and once as Sir David Attenborough. Seven people actually voted for Sir Richard Attenborough.


If there were a vote for Queen (although strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government - supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony), Katie Price would probably come tops.

The bloke who suggested Boaty McBoatface actually apologised - he only did it for a laugh and didn't realise it would go this far. Thankfully, NERC will select the name themselves, or so I am reliably informed by someone in the know at Cammell Laird.

BP's CEO's 20% salary increase to £14m was in the news yesterday. BP is in the red due to a series of unfortunate events. The new CEO instituted cost-saving programmes and laid off a lot of people to save money. I would contend that that is not a particularly hard job to do - anyone in the same position could and would have done exactly the same - saving on costs it's a no-brainer. In no way can I see this as such a 'brilliant and creative solution' that it justifies a 20% salary increase - he'd have been sacked it he hadn't cut costs, The 20% pay rise should be reserved for the CEO who has a strategy that actually makes money in the face of adversity and increases share prices. Such a CEO is worth his or her weight in gold (which probably still wouldn't be worth £14m).

On a positive note, the BP chairman has said BP will learn from the reaction - probably to keep things like this away from the public gaze, They are so far from reality it's not true and wonder why people get pissed off at such enormous salaries and pay rises.


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