camdentown

100% agree Ms Galore, what relevance would this have to the airline?

Ldnn1

I don't think the article is particularly smutty or sordid. The point is that the fact of the relationship does at least raise a question as to whether it might have had anything to do with the timing of his retirement. The answer from IAG appears to be no, not at all, but in light of the McDonalds resignation last year (as mentioned in the article) it is not an irrelevant question. Relationships between senior leaders and more junior employees are coming under increasing scrutiny these days.

UKtravelbear

Iin the McDonalds case there was a specific company policy regardign this sort of relationship. Plus he was sacked by the board.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-50283720

Does IAG have such a policy?

orbitmic

Tabloids, and because tabloids care, some of the institutional shareholders. it's unfair, it's stupid, and people in their right minds don't, but that's what the uk has become...

Bohinjska Bistrica

They might be concerned from a governance perspective - such relationships can cause all sorts of difficulties and/or risks.

It might also be of interest to IAG shareholders who can make their own minds up about it. On the whole though I agree - it isn't in the public interest.

Ldnn1

For those who are interested in this topic more generally, it is worth a listen to Evan Davies' The Bottom Line discussion on it from a while ago: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08dr940

This programme is usually very good by the way - one I highly recommend to add to your podcast list.

PUCCI GALORE

By whom? The gutter press? If he was conducting a relationship of the CEO of Star Alliance I could see a pillow talk problem, but this is just cheap and nasty and I hope that people just ignore it.

PUCCI GALORE

Tabloids care about nothing but selling their garbage. I do not like the man but attack him on his track record. It's so grubby.

Ldnn1

Perhaps you should listen to the programme I mentioned above and have a think about why it is not just relationships with competitors that can - in some cases - cause issues.

TO BE ABSOLUTELY CLEAR: I am not suggesting there was anything at all improper about this particular relationship or that it had any bearing on his retirement. As I said, it seems that it didn't. I am simply making the point that relationships *of this sort* may well have to be declared internally because of the conflict questions they can raise, and therefore cannot simply be said to be none of the company's business.

orbitmic

And again, I could not agree more, but it is a fact of life that they precisely believe that sex stories involving the famous or the powerful will precisely help them sell such rubbish,and another related fact of life that for that very reason, many institutional shareholders resent their company being named in the news in relation to such stories. Don't take me wrong, I hate that puritan focus on who sleeps with whom, and if I were imposing the news agenda, this would never make it, but unfortunately that is a battle that people like you and I have long lost, the fact that one of the most respected papers in the country deems this newsworthy demonstrates it strikingly.

PUCCI GALORE

Perhaps I should, but in all probability I will not. You are probably right - either way I have said what I have to say and will only repeat that if this is true, then my sincere sympathy goes out to his wife and children.

PUCCI GALORE

You are so right and you have put this so well. I suppose that I was put out by it being discussed on here, but this comes under the point that you make so eloquently. I always remember something that Sting said a long time ago. These are stories about underpants and I am not interested in underpants. Now he is someone that I did like aboard.

Ldnn1

He is divorced! The story is not about an affair (or at least there is no allegation of an affair in it; when the relationship may have started is not alluded to). It is generally worth checking what an article is actually about - or perhaps even reading it - before slamming it.

orbitmic

This reminds me of a discussion I had with a journalist from a very well-known US newspaper shortly after Jacques Chirac's death.The person had apparently only just realised the incredible propensity of Chirac to cheat on his wife (openly - they amply discussed his mistresses) and was telling me that surely the French public must feel outraged and betrayed at discovering his behaviour. My response was that despite a recent surge in popularity (not unusual for people no longer in power), many French people thought of Chirac as a very poor and ineffective President and would undoubtedly be delighted to be outraged if she could point out to any decision he made as a President that had been affected by one of his affairs.

My point was that most people will judge a politician based on his politics, a businessman on his business decisions, a sportsperson on their performance on the field and so on. The fact that you know something about what those people may be doing with their vagina or their penis does not give you license to hit below the belt (pun intended).

Call me a cynic, but I don't expect someone to be a "nice" or "good" person just because they are a minister, the ceo of a big company, a famous actor or a footballer adored by thousands of naïve fans. If anything, I always have an odd suspicion that when people have power in a given field they may be deceptively tempted to believe that they are powerful "full stop" and behave towards others accordingly which is a most unappealing feature to me. In that sense, because I don't expect those people to necessarily be "good people", I am not going to pretend to be shocked or disappointed when they show their mediocrely human side. That is between them the people in their lives, and really none of my business.

subject2load

The whole issue as to whether there is ever just cause for the ‘private’ lives of those in high-profile positions (whether in politics, royalty, business, or the world of entertainment) to come under public scrutiny will always be a contentious one.

By way of light-hearted distraction from such weighty matters, the forthcoming top management changes at IAG have prompted a bit of fun over at the Not Señor Alex Cruz parody twitter page ...........