If you were him, capable and skillful, you'd agree to the media headline morality, simplistic and moronic as it is, and move into the office this morning, adapt your contract of employment to a great degree, increase expenses, fiddle with remuneration, adjust tax implications, hire extra staff and generally spend half an hour in entirely legal ways, efficiently giving yourself an extra 2 million quid for next year's salary and perks without giving yourself a bonus.

Then you'd get back to the day to day business of running RBS thinking "God the media really is simplistically stoopid".

And you'd be right.

I'm assuming here that the guy has a couple of brain cells.

Nail Head Hammer! Bankers earn more than the rest of us...shock! Horror! Indeed...the media love winding everyone up.

He accepted the job based on a "Contract of Employment" which, I assume, told him his salary and the structure upon which bonuses would be paid. (I gather that was drawn up in conjunction with Gordon Brown's government). So, now he's decided not to take it, due to unfair pressure, he should be renegotiating his contract, or leave. And I suspect there is a huge payment in the event of early termination - by either side! He would then be free to get a job in the proper Private Sector.

Just wait until you hear how big Bob Diamond's bonus is going to be!