JOHN Vinney, the vice chancellor of Bournemouth University, may be worth every penny of his £211,000 salary.

But what many may find difficult to swallow is his 19 per cent pay rise at a time of austerity and when his staff aren’t getting anywhere near that eye-watering increase. Public figures often hide behind the fig leaf of remuneration committees and that seems to the case here. Given the opportunity to talk about his pay rise through the Echo, Professor Vinney has declined. He might feel he doesn’t need to justify taking the cash on offer. Others may beg to differ.