tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7132206171945839649.post3211829936368214325..comments2024-02-13T11:11:28.246+00:00Comments on Bishop Alan’s Blog: Banking: The Way We Were (1964)Bishop Alan Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13879516755776951638noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7132206171945839649.post-3529991732013677632009-04-21T09:31:00.000+01:002009-04-21T09:31:00.000+01:005s out of £21 a week was about 1% of his income. ...5s out of £21 a week was about 1% of his income. That's about the equivalent of someone today spending £5 a week on the National Lottery, which isn't really that unusual, or excessive, is it?<br /><br />But it's interesting to think of bankers as unionised - I've spent almost my entire life in jobs where unions don't really exist. They feel like a structure from a bygone age.Matt Kellandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04544385872579718596noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7132206171945839649.post-76522255981111915852009-04-21T08:05:00.000+01:002009-04-21T08:05:00.000+01:00JQ many thanks for your interesting & percepti...JQ many thanks for your interesting & perceptive reading. I've checked the issue and you're right! The theme of the whole issue was money, and he was told to stick to finance, and especially to explain how someone who handled £300,000 a year kept himself honest on a modest.<br /><br />There's a bit near the end where he says “I look on [not being envious] not as a virtue but as a kind of kink in me.” I'm also interested, on those figures, that he spent 5s a week on football pools — Not to be puritan, but he was only getting £21 a week, so 5s is a far bigger proportion than 25p makes it sound. Looking at the header I see he was also a Union official; and this probably informs his last sentence.Bishop Alan Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13879516755776951638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7132206171945839649.post-52646273082550642532009-04-20T21:00:00.000+01:002009-04-20T21:00:00.000+01:00I'm just not responding that warmly to this - poss...I'm just not responding that warmly to this - possibly it's the guy talking about how much he "allows" his wife per week, which reminds me that a single woman in that era would have trouble getting a mortgage, even if she could afford the payments in a world where it was still legal openly to pay women less for the same work.<br /><br />The main problem, though: I don't know if he was specifically told to stick to finances in this interview, but it still seems that everything revolves around money for him. All his excursions and little treats are costed, and he seems to conflate having ambition for higher salary with ambition and drive in general e.g. this bit: If I had been a bit more envious, a bit more covetous, I would have been more ambitious in life and taken chances with my career..."Joan of Quarkhttp://joanofquark.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7132206171945839649.post-9123616997770212432009-04-19T22:14:00.000+01:002009-04-19T22:14:00.000+01:00Many thanks for echoes of this man's world, Matt. ...Many thanks for echoes of this man's world, Matt. I sometimes wonder how I would ever explain to my father (1914-1990), wre he to return, what half the adverts in the tube are about! As the CIA used to say, you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube, but it'll be interesting if the pendulum ever swings back the other way, towards a more corporately aware, simply, local society. Perhaps it'll never happen, but it's an interesting notion.Bishop Alan Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13879516755776951638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7132206171945839649.post-83760964763695423562009-04-19T15:10:00.000+01:002009-04-19T15:10:00.000+01:00That could have been my grandfather. My dad was f...That could have been my grandfather. My dad was from a slightly later era, joining the bank in the mid-50s. He left and took early retirement in the mid-80s when he realised that despite being an experienced manager who knew his customers personally, he no longer had the authority to make decisions about their creditworthiness and had been replaced by the soulless "computer says no" and fast-track graduates who were prepared to take big risks with other people's money despite having no experience. However, most of his attitudes were the same as in this blog: he was a man of prudence and modest means, for whom family and security was more important than status and possessions.Matt Kellandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04544385872579718596noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7132206171945839649.post-60068883512573236152009-04-15T22:35:00.000+01:002009-04-15T22:35:00.000+01:00Like you, I was really moved by this man's life st...Like you, I was really moved by this man's life story; There's so much here evocative of a whole way of life that has passed away. Pretty much everyone round where we lived when I was small was made by the war and living through the depression. Every pleasure was enjoyed as a bonus. Of course everything was changing; but this man's profound family values, honesty and self-respect make a rather painful contrast to the wide-boy antics we are all supposed to aspire to and admire these days.Bishop Alan Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13879516755776951638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7132206171945839649.post-5529498466212317592009-04-15T18:50:00.000+01:002009-04-15T18:50:00.000+01:00Oh my - this so recalls my father's world. He took...Oh my - this so recalls my father's world. He took early retirement from banking in 1971 to care for my invalid mother - that catalogue of modest pleasures was really evocative of his approach to life.<br />I was a very late child; reading this brings home to me how hugel different my life is from my parents'. Unimaginable really...Kathrynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09171138485811816831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7132206171945839649.post-26007291149213737312009-04-15T12:07:00.000+01:002009-04-15T12:07:00.000+01:00thanks for an interesting post. shows the complete...thanks for an interesting post. shows the complete change in culture in finance.<br /><br />this line made me smile 'and my coke £12 a year.' - i read in City Boy (the recent bestseller) that fuel costs have gone through the roof for bankers these days.MBGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18404729484594219550noreply@blogger.com