Recently I was invited to take part in a debate triggered by the events surrounding the collapse of Carillion. The multiple failures of governance and supervision created something of a firestorm of criticism, magnified beyond the job losses and pensions debacle, by the estimated direct £148m cost to taxpayers.

There is clearly a need for an overhaul of the mechanisms that are supposed to balance stakeholder rights and mitigate the effects of such corporate failures. But some of the arguments currently being aired threaten to run too far.