Last autumn, amid the maelstrom of the financial crisis, it seemed that fundamental change was afoot. “A new capitalism will emerge from the rubble”, declared the BBC's business editor, Robert Peston. And in the court of public opinion, driven to the point of fury by tales of huge bonuses in a failing banking sector, nowhere was this change more keenly sought than in the sphere of executive pay. Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, even suggested that failed but wealthy bankers should count themselves “lucky the British have no guillotines in stock”.
去年秋季，當金融危機肆虐之際，某種根本改革似乎正在醞釀之中。英國廣播公司(BBC)商業編輯羅伯特•佩斯頓(Robert Peston)宣稱：「碎石瓦礫中將走出一個新的資本主義」。而在民意法庭上，沒有什麼領域比高階主管薪酬更亟需改革了——瀕臨破產的銀行業發放鉅額獎金的訊息已經引起羣情激憤。自由民主黨(Liberal Democrat)財政部發言人文斯•凱布爾(Vince Cable)甚至稱，失敗但富有的銀行家應該「慶幸英國沒有保留斷頭臺制度」。