Timely Tuesdays: Bonuses and Budweiser in the News

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• U.K. Dips into Bankers’ Bonus Pockets In what The Mirror calls “the first popular tax in history,” Britain is imposing a one-time levy on bankers’ bonuses — something Washington lacks the balls for, tax watchers speculate. In a sly dig, Huffington Post describes the Chancellor of the Exchequer as “sort of like a Treasury  Secretary, but with more pluck.”
• Airline Walkout May Increase Christmas Visits by Sled, Buggy and Rowboat A British Airways strike looks  likely as the airline turns to the courts in a last ditch effort to forestall flight crews’ plans to stay home December 22-January 2. I wouldn’t want to be a purser facing a pay cut or job loss, but I also wouldn’t want to be B.A. chief executive Willie Walsh, who assures travelers in a note on the airline website, “We are working hard on contingency plans, and will announce them as soon as they are finalised.”
• British Actresses Reviving the Raj in Hollywood English names like Mirren, Blunt and An Education‘s Mulligan dominate the list of female nominees for this year’s Golden Globes awards.
• This Bud’s for You: Warehouse Worker Returns £800,000 Direct Deposit Memo to Accounting: “See me.” When working bloke Stephen Foster’s pay stub credited him with £1.4 million in pay (with £600,000 withheld for taxes), he did not take the windfall straight to the pub and drink it. Instead, he notified his employer and was rewarded with … a case of Budweiser.
• Nursery May Encourage Parents to Run for Office MPs won’t be the only squalling babies at Westminster, soon — and the Old Guard may cry harder when they learn they’re losing a watering hole in the hopes that more parents of young children will stand for election. Replacing whiskey bottles with Enfamil and Ribena, Parliament plans to convert a bar into onsite daycare for up to 40 children of legislators and staff.

Banker photo courtesy of Adam Smith.
Budweiser balloon photo courtesy of Paul Stevenson.