Vandals heed Max Hastings and attack Fred Goodwin’s home

It seems Scottish vandals have heeded Max Hastings' (left) suggestion in the Daily Mail on Saturday that disgruntled taxpayers should throw rocks through the windows of the country’s disgraced bankers. Early on Wednesday morning vandals attacked the £3m Edinburgh home of former Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive Sir Fred Goodwin (right), smashing the windows of the villa as well as those of a Mercedes S600 parked in the driveway.

Hastings had written that the British public should punish bankers such as Goodwin. "Get the boot in and keep kicking," he said. "This is why we must stand outside their homes throwing rocks through the window."

Goodwin, nicknamed 'Fred the Shred' for his penchant for cutting jobs and slashing budgets, was not at home when the attack happened around 4.35am. He is thought to be abroad, lying low until the furore over his £16.9m pension deal - and an additional £1.8m tax break - dies down.
 
The former CEO is fast discovering that life after RBS is not such a comfortable one. As reported by The First Post on Monday, Goodwin used to have 24-hour security at his home – at the bank’s expense, of course – after children broke into his garden and played on the swing.
 
Goodwin is also having to avoid the paparazzi. Among celebrity photographers, the former banker has been dubbed the 'new Amy Winehouse' – the public figure with the biggest price on his head. The first picture of Goodwin enjoying the fruits of his pension, would earn around £30,000, says the London Evening Standard's picture editor, Dave Ofield. "He's currently worth more than Britney, maybe hovering around the Brad and Angelina with kids price."
 
Two other bankers also received their comeuppance on Tuesday. Bob Diamond, who heads up Barclay's investment banking arm, saw his salary and perks package slashed by a massive 95 per cent to a comparatively meagre £250,000. His boss, Barclays chief executive John Varley, took a 55 per cent drop in pay, from a total package of £2.4m to just over £1m. The hefty pay cuts come after profits at the UK's third-largest bank plummeted by 14 per cent last year.
 
In reality, however, Diamond will not have to scrape by on his new salary. Barclays accounts reveal that he also earned £7.4m cash and another £7.4m shares relating to previous performance plans.
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