Writing the occasional finance column can be a dangerous business. Recently, Luke Johnson, the chief of Patisserie Valerie, wrote in his Sunday Times column that it was unfortunate financial illiteracy permeates society from top to bottom. He then wrote a later column entitled A business beginners guide to tried and tested swindles.

As most people will be aware, the cake chain was subsequently engulfed in an accounting scandal. It is the very textbook definition of schadenfreude.