Permit us a footnote to the ongoing institutional weirdness of Rio Tinto.

In Thursday’s column we juxtaposed the curious inconsistency of the board’s continuing indulgence of its chief executive Jean-Sebastian Jacques and its ongoing stand-off with Jacques’ predecessor Sam Walsh. The latter received a benign email in 2011, hasn’t been accused of any wrongdoing but is being denied payment of $29.6 million of earned remuneration. The former told a meeting room full of staff to “fit in or f--- off” in 2016 but trousered £4.289 million ($7.77 million) last year, including 70 per cent of his maximum short-term bonus – for financial performance almost entirely the work of Walsh and his finance director Chris Lynch.