Saturday, January 10, 2009

Kids, Some of These Green-Collar Jobs Pay Pretty Well

From the Times of London:

Tony Blair to earn £15m in two years

TONY BLAIR is busy preparing for talks in the Middle East on a subject of global importance. The subject is not the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, but climate change, in a speech to be delivered to a conference in Abu Dhabi sponsored by a Swiss bank.

It is just one of many money-spinning engagements that are expected to take his earnings to £15m by July, two years since his departure from Downing Street....

...According to details of his schedule obtained by The Sunday Times, Blair’s upcoming commitments include the climate conference in Abu Dhabi on January 21, a university talk near Boston on February 2 and a trip to a California theatre where tickets cost up to $380 each.

Blair ranks as the most expensive speaker in the world. His agents at the Washington Speakers Bureau typically charge $250,000 (£164,000) for a 90-minute speech.

He is also paid about £2m a year by JP Morgan Chase [climate change -ed.] and a further £500,000 a year by Zurich Financial Services [climate change -ed.]. The deal for his memoirs is worth a reported £4.6m....MORE