BP boss in pension insult

Yet it is clear that BP have failed to learn the lessons from the bank bailout, and how those bosses whose decisions have caused so much hardship for so many people walked away with ludicrously excessive pensions and pay-outs.

Even the shamed bank bosses, however, failed to secure a deal as generous as the package accepted by Tony Hayward – the outgoing BP boss, and the man whose complacent response to the Gulf oil spill has, potentially, endangered the company's very existence.

As well as receiving a pay-off of one year's salary – just over 1m – Mr Hayward will help preside over a new BP venture in Russia and also be entitled to a pension worth 600,000 a year.

Yet, rather than waiting at least 12 years until he reaches the

official retirement age, this sum will be paid to Mr Hayward with immediate effect. His staff, on the other hand, will have to continue working until they reach 65 or thereabouts.

Contrast this ultimate "reward for failure" with all those Gulf fishermen, and seaside businesses, who have been left financially crippled by the inability – for whatever reason – of BP and its gaffe-prone boss to contain the oil that was spewing into the sea in unprecedented quantities.

And contrast the largesse that BP has shown towards Mr Hayward with the treatment afforded to its shareholders and, specifically, the many pension funds that had invested in the firm.

They have seen their share dividend payments withheld, and there is every likelihood that future such payments will be withdrawn, or downgraded, as BP comes to terms with the financial consequences of the Gulf disaster. It's bad news, indeed, for those senior citizens on limited incomes.

If Mr Hayward is genuinely concerned about his organisation's future, he could, at the very least, have waived his right to accept some of the many millions of pounds that are coming his way. It is about accepting responsibility – a concept that still appears to be alien to the banks and now BP.