I have just spent the morning doing something that has left me feeling bored and grumpy. I’ve been reading annual reports and proxy statements, concentrating on the bit where companies try to justify why their top person got paid quite so much.

What has annoyed me isn’t just the fact that most chief executives earn more than they are worth: this has been the case for such a long time that outrage fatigue has set in.

Instead, it is the increasing quantity of flannel and pseudo-scientific analysis in which the numbers are now wrapped. Take Barclays. Last week, Pirc, which advises shareholders on how to vote, complained that the bank’s system of setting pay was too complicated and advised them to vote against the pay deal at this week’s meeting.