It's time to fully nationalise RBS

The real scandal of RBS is not the huge bonus that will be paid to boss Stephen Hester, says Matthew Lynn. It's the government's complete lack of a coherent strategy for the bank.

How much of a bonus does Stephen Hester deserve for running Royal Bank of Scotland for the past year? The £700,000 he is estimated to be in line for when the figure is revealed later this month? Or a packet of boiled sweets and a used bus ticket?

The truth is that, despite all the sound and fury it will no doubt generate over the next couple of weeks, Hester's bonus doesn't matter very much. Neither do the bonuses of any of the other senior staff at the bank.

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Matthew Lynn

Matthew Lynn is a columnist for Bloomberg, and writes weekly commentary syndicated in papers such as the Daily Telegraph, Die Welt, the Sydney Morning Herald, the South China Morning Post and the Miami Herald. He is also an associate editor of Spectator Business, and a regular contributor to The Spectator. Before that, he worked for the business section of the Sunday Times for ten years. 

He has written books on finance and financial topics, including Bust: Greece, The Euro and The Sovereign Debt Crisis and The Long Depression: The Slump of 2008 to 2031. Matthew is also the author of the Death Force series of military thrillers and the founder of Lume Books, an independent publisher.