Bank bonuses 'could treat dementia'
Sir Terry Pratchett has suggested the multimillion-pound bonuses which the Royal Bank of Scotland will not be paying to staff could be spent helping to treat dementia patients.
The novelist made the comments after he was knighted by the Queen for his hugely popular Discworld series of comic fantasy books which have sold in their millions.
Sir Terry, 60, also described the "furore" which greeted the announcement he was suffering from dementia but said it had helped raise awareness about the illness.
Dressed in a top hat and morning suit, the writer said: "It would appear to me that me getting up and saying 'I've got Alzheimer's', it did shake people, you cannot help but notice it's in the news an awful lot.
"The thing about Alzheimer's is there are few families that haven't been touched by the disease.
"People come up to me and talk about it and burst into tears. There's far more awareness about it and that was really what I hoped was going to happen.
"Everybody thinks the Government should be doing more about everything but just think how many of the bonuses which are quite rightly being dragged off certain people, just think to what good causes they could be put - wouldn't that be a lovely thought?"
On Tuesday RBS bowed to intense political pressure and slashed its cash bonuses for staff by more than 90%.
The bank, which is now almost 70% state-owned after accepting £20 billion in taxpayer support, said that cash bonuses this year would total £175 million compared to around £2.5 billion last year.
Former TV newsreader John Suchet yesterday became the latest celebrity to speak out about dementia when he revealed on Tuesday the torment caused by his wife's Alzheimer's. The broadcaster said the disease had "taken" Bonnie, his wife of 24 years, since she was diagnosed three years ago.
