Debate >Should the EU cap bankers' bonuses?
From the editor >Media analysis of the chancellor's measures continues
Iqbal Wahhab >We could save billions with a sharper focus on healthy eating
Graeme Leach >The chancellor is quietly making Britain a better place for enterprise
This issue has been put together against the backdrop of the annual debate on the rights and wrongs of bankers' bonuses. This has become an issue of social, business and political dispute, not helped this year by the fact that the coalition agreement made a point of promising "robust action to tackle unacceptable bonuses". So far there has been little in the way of any action, and senior bankers have compounded the situation by saying they feel the time for regret and remorse over the financial crisis has gone.
Senior figures in the City believe they have eaten sufficient humble pie and that the moment for pretending to limit bonuses has passed. Tell that to the unemployed, to directors struggling to keep businesses afloat or those small firms denied funding by the banks paying out millions in bonuses.
The myth of talent and the powerful need businesses feel to appoint big-name, celebrity leaders who command staggering sums is one thing the recession sadly hasn't destroyed. Few of us want to see unnecessary government intervention in markets and it would be nice to think the bank leaders would have the moral courage to see beyond their cosy club and to act in the wider economic interest. While a thriving banking community is good for the economy, surely a thriving economy is essential for banks to succeed.
One interested party in these shenanigans was outgoing Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy, our cover star. When we met last year, he told me that the recession and the role of bankers as public enemy number one had eased the pressure on Tesco. The store's growth through the recession has restored a sense of perspective about the value of such a success story to the UK. While Leahy's pay is substantial, there is little in his approach that suggests he thinks his progress has been all about him. He talks of the power of the team, and the firm's successes have been shared around all staff.
Hopefully we are starting to take a more balanced view of what we value in society and in our economy; a return to celebrating productive enterprise more than the risky smoke and mirrors of financial instruments. Perhaps the UK would be more certain of a sustainable future if there were more Leahys and fewer overpaid bankers.
Richard Cree