trickle down in action. Were ever so f••••in grateful.

Banker in ‘being rich’ shock.

More non-news.

What’s your point? People aren’t allowed to spend their own money?

Chaise, I suspect the point is to give a concrete example of what grotesque inequality looks like: while the rest of us are being asked to tighten our belts for the common good, the rich (and bankers especially) are having an absolute whale of a time with all the money that used to be spent on silly things like paying wages and building factories but nowadays just gets slurped up by the top 1%.

You’ve got half a point though – this bloke actually going out and spending his money is, relatively speaking, one of the good guys. At least he’s putting that money back into the economy and hence into the pockets of workers, businesses and ultimately the Treasury – which beats just sitting on it, as too many wealthy people and corporations are doing, even if it doesn’t beat leaving a larger slice for workers and the taxman in the first place.

I don’t him spendign his own money after a successfull deal or whatever it is they do, but it’s not fair that if the bank lost a load of money the taxman foots the bill.

It is pricey in there and the girls are gorgeous.

@ 4 G.O.

It just seems like the message is going further than a lot of lefties would follow. I mean, sign me up for higher taxes on the rich, better equality of opportunity, and better protection for low-paid workers… but not for the idea that anyone who earns more money than me must be the enemy, or that we should snoop about in their private lives to find ammunition against them.

If that’s NOT the underlying point of the OP, I’d be interested in word from Sunny as to the exact income at which you become a bad person by default. So far this just looks like a jealous attack on a random person.

But should he be spending it in a way that’s degrading to women?

It’s in poor taste on many levels but my first thought was “what a lonely man”. He may be rich but he had to pay for companionship. It is natural to want to celebrate after a windfall and he earned the money. Then he spent the money. After that he probably went home and felt empty. This would be a better story if it was a cabinet member. Banker in big bonus and stripper shocker? Not so much.

Isn’t liberal conspiracy just a left wing holier than thou parody of the papers it claims to despise, like the daily mail these days?

The poor man, perhaps he should get a job in one of the few remaining collieries, I’ve heard that there’s a lot of comradeship within that community.

@ 8 Flowerpower

“But should he be spending it in a way that’s degrading to women?”

Can we agree that this is a totally different issue? I don’t know whether we’re being invited to judge the banker’s lifestyle by the OP (we probably are), but I don’t see any real difference between spending thousands at a strip club and spending a fiver at a strip club – and in any case, the gender politics around stripping really aren’t relevant to the point of the OP.

@ 10 Tyler

“Isn’t liberal conspiracy just a left wing holier than thou parody of the papers it claims to despise, like the daily mail these days?”

Well, replace “banker” with “left-wing political figure” and you do pretty much have a Mail smear piece. You’d have to get the phrase “howls of outrage” into the article somewhere, though.

Chaise @ 13:

“Well, replace “banker” with “left-wing political figure” and you do pretty much have a Mail smear piece. You’d have to get the phrase “howls of outrage” into the article somewhere, though.”

I suspect the closest Mail equivalent would be “Benefits family on £5 million mansion at taxpayer’s expense!”

Pretty sure bonuses aren’t paid at this time of year so could this “massive windfall” be an elderly aunt dying and leave him her fortune.

Or a lottery win, or betting on IG Index or a win on the horses.

Probably nothing to do with him being a banker.

@ 8 Flowerpower

“But should he be spending it in a way that’s degrading to women?”

I doubt the women who benefited from his generous tips were left feeling degraded.

Why republish a lapdancing club’s obvious PR release? Probably made up.

@17 – Anything for a daily hate.

There’s no mention of how he got his windfall. Is he bad because he’s rich, because he’s a banker, because he spent £37k in one night or because of where he spent it? I think there should be extra tiers of tax rates for higher earners. I think it would be unrealistic to expect people to pay them without the government introducing them first. This dude is putting his money straight back into the economy, far better than hiding it offshore IMO. He’s a one man stripper bailout fund.

Pj @ 17

Why republish a lapdancing club’s obvious PR release? Probably made up.

I reckon you’re on the money there.

let’s do the maths (based on Spearmint Rhino’s 2010 prices) and be generous in our estimates:

Entrance fee: £15

5 X most expensive starter (Sampler Platter – rhino wings, jalapeno poppers, mozzarella sticks, breaded chicken fingers and French fries) : £75

5 X most expensive steak (T-Bone @ £24): £120

5 X most expensive champagne (magnums Cristal): £4,450

Allow 5 X £30 for coffeee/desserts: £150

Wash it down with 5 X bottles of Stolichnaya (or equivalent spirit): £550

Lapdancers: £20 per 5 minute pop – assume triple time for 5 hour booking X 4: £3,600

Tips:

Dancers: £4000
Chip girls: £4000
Waiters/staff:£3000

Hire of private room: £2000
Plus £3,000 service + anything we haven’t thought of…..

Total £24,960

Shortfall: £12, 040

Verdict: claim is definitely iffy.

Have you considered that the club owners saw a drunken banker flashing the cash and padded the bill even more? Maybe he had the top dancers who charge more? Maybe they charged him extra for the room since he may not have booked it in advance. Or even more likely that the article didn’t list everything that he spent?

You can’t just do some back of a pack of fags calculations and say that something didn’t happen.

There’s nothing like taking your work ethos to a lap-dancing club.

So I am guessing he went in and advertised that he was a banker, or is this the fact that a man went in and spent some money and therefore was assumed to be one…?

The only people being degraded and taken advantage of in a mainstream establishment like Spearmint Rhino are the customers.

The girls are laughing all the way to the bank – and anyone who thinks otherwise needs to give up on the simplistic 1970s gender politics and GET A LIFE!

I do agree that it’s probably a made up story though. But if not, so what? At least he’s not squirreling it all away offshore

Good grief, talk about missing the point!

@ 20 Flowerpower

Hard to call really. I agree that the total is ludicruously high, but it’s always possible that he tipped someone £20,000 out of pure Loadsamoney extravagance.

On the other hand, VERY possible that this is all based on a hugely exaggerated account given by the individual in question, which then wasn’t checked by people who saw an opportunity to make a (crap) political point out of it.

Moralist suffers hot flushes after reading tabloid junk story shock!

Ban this evil filth!

@ 26 Chaise

it’s always possible that he tipped someone £20,000

Indeed so.

But that rather changes things, doesn’t it?

Sunny has framed this story as one about self-indulgence and excess.

If the true story is “rich man gives away money”, then it’s about generosity, altruism, philanthropy…… and that wouldn’t suit Sunny’s agenda at all!

@ 28 Flowerpower

“If the true story is “rich man gives away money”, then it’s about generosity, altruism, philanthropy…… and that wouldn’t suit Sunny’s agenda at all!”

Well, under our hypothetical scenario, it sound like it’s more about showing off… but I take your point. Whatever the specifics, it appears that Sunny used the formula “rich = bad” when posting this story, and didn’t stop to think about whether or not it sent any sensible political message. Currently the moral I’m getting is “if you have loads and loads of money, hide it all under your mattress”.

5 X most expensive starter (Sampler Platter – rhino wings, jalapeno poppers, mozzarella sticks, breaded chicken fingers and French fries) : £75

Jesus christ that sounds worse than what brewers fayre server

@ 8

I would love to be degraded for £37,000 a night – at present I’m degraded for less than £10,000 a year!