The resignation memo from the firm is artfully prepared; larded with gushing laudatory praise, wafting the aroma of sour cream, the taint of sulphur fumes. Larded with cliches, it veritably screams half-truths and tin ear fabrication. It will be required reading at Harvard Business School for how not to write a resignation memo with as many holes as swiss cheese; a classic example of “good” versus “real” reasons.

Tim O’Neal should be looking over his shoulder as he may feel a slight wet trickle where the “Soviet” style stiletto silently and swiftly slits between the shoulder blades. He is but a bit player who can be easily discarded among the protagonists in the sold-out, acclaimed drama, “Goldman Sachs “, a modern Shakespearean tragedy of deceit, deception, betrayal, greed, and mayhem wherein the newly crowned leader along his sycophants and consiglieres will all be impaled on their own swords. And they don’t even comprehend their impending lonely demise.

Highest paid

1. Directors and chief executives of major organisations.
Average annual salary: £115,576
Job titles include: Chief executive, company director, general manager, managing director (of major organisations).
2. Medical practitioners
Average annual salary: £78,366
Job titles include: Anaesthetist, doctor, hospital consultant, GP, physician, psychiatrist, psycho-analyst, registrar, surgeon.
3. Senior officials in national government
Average annual salary: £68,283
Job titles include: Assistant secretary, diplomat, MEP, MP, permanent secretary.
4. Brokers
Average annual salary: £61,117
Job titles include: Commodity trader, financial broker, foreign exchange dealer, insurance broker, shipbroker, stockbroker.
5. Air traffic controllers
Average annual salary: £60,548
Job titles include: Air traffic controller, controller of aircraft, flight planner, ground movement controller.
6. Financial managers and chartered secretaries
Average annual salary: £58,295
Job titles include: Company registrar, company treasurer, credit manager, finance manager, financial director, merchant banker.
7. Senior officials in local government
Average annual salary: £55,921
Job titles include: Chief executive of local government, town clerk.
8. Police officers (inspectors and above)
Average annual salary: £53,937
Job titles include: Assistant chief constable, chief constable, chief inspector, chief superintendent, deputy chief constable.
9. IT strategy and planning professionals
Average annual salary: £50,143
Job titles include: Computer consultant, software consultant.
10. Solicitors and lawyers, judges and coroners
Average annual salary: £48,908
Job titles include: Articled clerk, barrister, coroner, judge, solicitor.
Lowest paid
1. Waiters and waitresses
Average annual salary: £11,930
2. Bar staff
Average annual salary: £11,930
3. Kitchen and catering assistants
Average annual salary: £12,410
Job titles include: Canteen assistant, catering assistant, counterhand, dining room assistant, kitchen assistant, kitchen porter, washer-up.
4. Travel and tour guides
Average annual salary: £12,561
Job titles include: Coach guide, courier for tour operator, escort, guide
5. Launderers, dry cleaners, pressers
Average annual salary: £12,657
Job titles include: Carpet cleaner, dry cleaner, garment presser, laundry worker.
6. Retail cashiers and check-out operators
Average annual salary: £12,736
Job titles include: Cashier, check-out operator, forecourt attendant, petrol pump attendant, restaurant cashier.
7. Leisure and theme park attendants
Average annual salary: £12,767
Job titles include: Arcade attendant, fairground worker, funfair attendant, usher/usherette.
8. Hairdressers and related occupations
Average annual salary: £13,194
Job titles include: Barber, beautician, hairdresser, make-up artist, manicurist, slimming consultant, barber.
9. Cleaners, domestics
Average annual salary: £13,807
Job titles include: Car valeter, chambermaid, cleaner, domestic cleaner.
10. Nursery Nurses
Average annual salary: £13,872
Job titles include: Creche assistant, nursery assistant, nursery nurse

Alcoa Profit Trails Estimates Amid Currency Costs is Bloomberg’s headline, and it seems like Alcoa missed analyst estimates terribly.

Hey, but if you read the Journal story, Alcoa “narrowed losses” and “strengthened revenues.” Things are getting much better.

Both are accurate facts, but the different focus makes one story positive and the other very negative. Who says facts do not lie?