Rewarding Failure

Sir Freddy ‘The Fuck Up’ Goodwin is sitting tight on his £16m pension pot today. He’s not going to give up his £650,000 annual pension income without a bit of a fight. Can’t really blame him though. £55k a month for the rest for your life sounds pretty good to me. I’d be fighting tooth and nail to keep it.

However, contrary to what Gordon Brown said, this is a case of Rewarding Failure at its best.

Other examples of glorious cock ups but sadly for those involved, none of your Sir Freddy style Diamond Encrusted Golden Goodbyes for them.

• Scientists at the Institute for Animal Health in Edinburgh secured a £200,000 government grant to find out whether BSE has jumped the “species barrier” from cows into sheep. An inquiry found that scientists had been mistakenly testing cattle brains instead of sheep brains for five years.
• Nasa scientists launched the Hubble telescope to create a lens 10 to 20 times more powerful than those based on earth. A gross design error in the main mirror was discovered immediately after launch in April 1990. Hundreds of millions of pounds were needed for the astronaut repair of the mirror.