The clock says you came in fourth by a fraction, but, hey, there was a headwind, you were trying hard and, what’s more, that stopwatch is wrongly calibrated. Have bronze, instead, with our compliments.

The decision by Royal Dutch Shell’s remuneration committee to overrule its own pay policy for top executives – for the second year running – looks terrible. Like Xstrata, whose shareholders on Tuesday lodged a significant protest against the mining company’s remuneration package, Shell has put itself in the line of fire.