Question: What have football managers and banking executives got in common? Answer: They both get paid loads of dosh for doing a rubbish job.

This commonality occurred to me when it came to light that failed bankers from RBS were preparing to pay themselves obscenely large bonuses from the taxpayer’s bail-out money whilst big Phil Scolari was walking away with a reported £6 million after completing just six months of a two year contract and leaving Chelsea facing an uphill struggle following a string of poor results.

Nice work if you can get it! Definitely all winners at other’s expense.

In the `Words that come back to haunt me’ section this month we have a clear winner; our revered Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.

Whilst Chancellor of the Exchequer, at Labour’s annual conference in 2007, Mr Brown announced the government would be "drawing on the talents of all to create British jobs for British workers". The Tories leapt on it as anti-Euro and possibly illegal, the BNP were delighted and put the famous statement on the front page of their newspaper. But that as all a long time ago.

Last week 1,700 angry British oil refinery workers at the Total Lindsey Oil Refinery near Scunthorpe walked out over the number of jobs being allocated to foreign workers. The crux of the protest was a reaction to plans to give 250 jobs to Italian and Eastern European workers, amidst a time of sharply rising unemployment in the region.

And what did the protestors have on their banners? `British jobs for British workers’, with all credit going to our Gordon. Perhaps it wasn’t so long ago after all.

Protectionism is a natural reaction in times of recession, job losses and economic downturn. This may not necessarily be a bad thing and we are not alone in thinking it. President Obama is looking to create 4 million jobs in the USA, President Zarkosy of France announced 6.5bn Euros (£5.7bn) in emergency government loans to its carmakers. Germany is making moves to protect its car industry.

So in this difficult, troubled times is really so wrong to look out for our own people? Being magnanimous and bountiful, with a Pan European vision of an integrated Pan European working family is a wonderful ideal when the sun is shining, we are all employed, we have full bellies and loose change in our pockets.

Until those balmy days return we must tighten our belts, weather the storm and look out for our own.