As news of the death of Rover reverberates around the city punctuated only by even more whining by John Hemming about the DTI in a desperate effort to deflect attention from his own role as the man who who brought the grim reapers, sorry Phoenix 4, to Longbridge comes the comforting news that on top of the £150 million that Labour are putting in to help local car workers facing redundancy after Rover’s final crash, including those at Rover’s suppliers, it now seems certain that their pensions are safe, despite the reported £67 million hole in the Rover pension fund, and they will get 90% of the pensions they worked for after all.

It’s not as good as having a job, but its something and more than they would ever have got from Phoenix.