York is now also home to England's finest example of the corporate living dead. Jarvis, kept alive with a £378m debt-for-equity bail-out and a £50m fundraising, has relocated there but it seems that it can't persuade its chief executive and finance director to follow.

Not even a journey of two hours to London by train (when the tracks are not under repair) can persuade Alan Lovell and Alasdair Marnoch. The latter was only appointed in June after the previous finance director quit, saying he didn't want to leave London, so Marnoch can't say he wasn't warned.
York, and Dame Judi, should not take it too much to heart. A boardroom job at Jarvis must count as one of the most unappealing directorships in Britain.

The new shareholders are the old bankers and they have already shown their mood by forcing Lovell, who has done a decent job as chief executive in keeping the beast alive, to give up half his bonus. There probably won't be riches on offer to Jarvis's new guard.

But who will they be? A chief operating officer has been appointed from Amey but that still leaves vacancies. It is not a trivial question. Jarvis may have sold key assets, such as its stake in the Tube Lines consortium, but it remains an important firm in track renewal. Heaven forbid that Jarvis should face another crisis like Potters Bar without committed, quality directors on board.