If You Can't Beat 'Em....

I read yesterday that another 'august' body - the 229-year old Royal Society of Edinburgh  - is the latest venerable organisation to call for Sir Fred Goodwin to be be given a good kicking.

Apparently, the Royal Society bestowed its own honour on Sir Fred in 2008 - which was the year after the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) spent £45 billion - acquiring the Dutch bank ABN Amro.

But while the Royal Society of Edinburgh clearly though that Fred the Shred was the bees knees only four years ago - some of its members want to strip Sir Fred of his fellowship of the society - a great honour allegedly.

As I said the other day - I have no time for Sir Fred or the honours system more generally - but it seems there's no end to the queue of people - lining up to humiliate publicly this former big-shot banker.

So in an effort to outdo absolutely everyone else with my moral outrage and very public indignation - I am calling for Sir Fred to be put in the stocks for a week - on Edinburgh's famous Royal Mile.

Because that way Edinburgh's local citizens - and anyone keen to travel from further afield - could throw rotten fruit or maybe something much harder - at the disgraced former head of RBS.

And all the people who get their rocks off by doing such things - would be in ecstasy, seventh heaven for a week.

Even the ones who were fawning all over Sir Fred - and bestowing him with fabulous honours back in 2008.

The brave figure who is leading the charge against Sir Fred - Bristow Muldoon - was quoted in the newspaper's yesterday - announcing solemnly that the Royal Society of Edinburgh would deal with the matter at its next meeting in February.

Bristow Muldoon is a former Labour MSP of course - unless there's another person with the very same name - but what I would like to see is a list of the people who voted to give Sir Fred his membership of the Royal Society in the first place.

Now that would make interesting reading.