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Leave RBS alone, already.

I'm going out on a bit of a limb here, but here goes.

I was walking past the RBS building on Bishopsgate after leaving the Deutsche Bank press event. (they plan on becoming the number one payments clearer for mobile money providers - but more on that on FinextraLive later.)

A handful of hardy souls 'Youth Votes for Jobs' (I am sorry if I got it wrong) were standing outside in the cold yelling 'What do we want? - JOBS! When do we want it? - NOW!'

I'm not sure if they thought the head of HR at RBS would come running out with contracts right there and then, but I am guessing they thought their case would be better made with the glowing RBS sign in the background.

Like Lehman Bros and AIG in the US, RBS has become the de facto symbol of the recession in the UK. But really, enough already!

Fred the Shred is no longer in the building. The bank is being split up and being sold for scrap. Give the poor bank a break already - at least for a week.

Youth Votes for Jobs, if you don't fancy a trip out to Canary Wharf (and we all know protests are bannned outside the hallls of Westminster) - at least find Goldman Sachs' address, they are in the phone book.

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Comments: (8)

Matt White
Matt White - Finextra - Toronto 21 January, 2010, 14:35Be the first to give this comment the thumbs up 0 likes

So your message to the 200-odd RBS IT staff that have just been told they are "no longer required" is don't bother joining this silly protest and instead "give the poor bank a break already"?

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Elizabeth Lumley
Elizabeth Lumley - Girl, Disrupted - Crayford 21 January, 2010, 14:42Be the first to give this comment the thumbs up 0 likes

Ah, if they were RBS 'Votes for Jobs' the little protest might have had more credibility.

Why protest the horses after the barn door has long been left open? There must be better places to hold a placard and yell into a bull horn.

(I had a photo, but couldn't figure out how to upload it - I only work here.)

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Matt White
Matt White - Finextra - Toronto 21 January, 2010, 14:54Be the first to give this comment the thumbs up 0 likes

Sorry Liz, can't help feeling your sympathies are with the wrong people. So, some protestors wanting to make a point about jobs decide to do it outside RBS - how mean!

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Elizabeth Lumley
Elizabeth Lumley - Girl, Disrupted - Crayford 21 January, 2010, 14:59Be the first to give this comment the thumbs up 0 likes

Told you I was going out on a limb. It's less about 'sympathy for RBS as a bank' - although I do have sympathy for the legions of people who work for regular salaries in any bank in the City being painted with the same brush as the 'Freds' of this industry.

I guess, I dispair at the fruitlessness of the protest, and the lack of creativity.

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Matt White
Matt White - Finextra - Toronto 21 January, 2010, 15:20Be the first to give this comment the thumbs up 0 likes

Creative? Maybe not, but the fact is the City played a major part in a recession that has cost a lot of people their jobs. Fred the Shred may no longer be in the building but the repercussions of his actions, and the actions of others, are still very real to some - so if they want to protest, fruitlessly or not, it's their choice.

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Elizabeth Lumley
Elizabeth Lumley - Girl, Disrupted - Crayford 21 January, 2010, 15:23Be the first to give this comment the thumbs up 0 likes

"...at least find Goldman Sachs' address, they are in the phone book."

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Matt White
Matt White - Finextra - Toronto 21 January, 2010, 15:40Be the first to give this comment the thumbs up 0 likes

But Goldman's nice...it just cut its bonus pool to a mere $16 billion and decided to give some money to charity.

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Elizabeth Lumley
Elizabeth Lumley - Girl, Disrupted - Crayford 22 January, 2010, 10:45Be the first to give this comment the thumbs up 0 likes

OK fine, you win. I will find my wall now to stand up against come the revolution.

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Elizabeth Lumley

Elizabeth Lumley

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