The Idiots Guide To HBOS And The Singing Malteser
HSBOS bank collapses, proof that capitalism works and you’re never to big to go under. (See Lehman Brothers.)
Big news, then. But the red-tops have a problem: they need to make their readers understand what Lehman Brothers was. They do this by finding an easy point of reference and talking down to them in words of one syllable or fewer.
THE SUN: “MASS EXIT – 40,000 face axe, including Howard.”
Howard..? Is he the boss of the failed outfit? In a way yes.
It’s Howard Brown, the bespectacled singing Malteser, star of the bank’s adverts. He “may” go…
Pages 6 and7: There’s Howard Brown riding Black Beauty, otherwise known as the Lloyds TSB pony.
He’s the Lloyds TSB “howboy”
DAILY MIRROR: “GREEDY PIG – Fund chief’s millions from HBOS misery”
The Mirror looks beyond the victims to the culprit. The paper says he’s Philip Flalcone who is “Said” to have made hundreds of millions of pounds gambling that HBOS shares would plummet.
How is he the villain, is not described.
On a brighter note, the Mirror says “30,000 FACE AXE IN CREDIT CRISIS BANK RESCUE”.
So 10,000 jobs have been save, just like that. Hurrah!
Posted: 18th, September 2008 | In: Money, Tabloids Comments (11) | TrackBack | Permalink
