Shameless Fred Goodwin is still living the high life

A decade since the financial crash and Fred the Shred’s still grinning.

In his flash car, the disgraced ex-banker motors on regardless.

Meanwhile, the vast majority are still picking up the pieces.

It was 10 years ago today that Lehman Brothers collapsed in the US, dragging with them pretty much the whole order of global finance.

Closer to home, RBS were already well on their way to disaster under Fred’s ruthless pursuit of business dominance.

We all know what happened in the years after the meltdown.

And the damage has not been totally undone.

Bad money thrown after bad money, hand over fist, at taxpayers’ expense.

Savings were whacked, livelihoods were harmed, homes were lost, jobs disappeared – and the age of austerity took over.

There was no radical overhaul of the landscape to make the system work for everyone.

Society is still held back while the rich get richer.

The property bubble didn’t really burst – mortgages are out of reach for huge numbers of people.

Fred was not alone in failing to see the dire consequences of reckless business behaviour.

But 10 years on, with the economy still sluggish and property even more expensive, there he is. He grins and the rest of us bear it.