Having your cake and eating it

The relative underperformance of PSU shares in the market reflects all that is wrong with the current ownership and governance structure

In a scene in Yes Minister, the constantly thwarted minister, Jim Hacker, wants to push through some legislation. His secretary Humphrey Appleby says: “I recommend that we set up an interdepartmental committee with fairly broad terms of reference so that at the end of the day we’ll be in the position to think through the various implications and arrive at a decision based on long-term considerations rather than rush prematurely to precipitate possibly an ill-conceived action which might well have unforeseen repercussions.”

“You mean, no?” asks the minister.

The political satire aired on BBC in the 1980s about a cabinet minister and