Glencore

The Professor is on holiday but she can't help reading the headlines. So Glencore has finally appointed a female non-executive director to the board. This seems to be a matter for rejoicing in some quarters. Vince Cable says it's a historic day for the FTSE, a fatuous remark. But it's all oddly reminiscent of Sir Ken Morrison's hold out against appointing any non-executives to the Morrison's board, all those years ago. He finally gave in to investor pressure. Did Morrison's perform better as a result? Difficult to say, isn't it?

Surely the time has come for every board to be free to appoint the best team to govern the company at any point in time? If every company explained the reasons for appointing every director, investors would have more detailed information and there would be no need for defensive positions as to why dubious proxies for diversity and independence have not apparently been met.

Good luck to Ms Merrin anyway. And to all the other company directors appointed this week, whatever their gender.