Ed Miliband doesn’t seem to care much for big companies. He gives the impression he thinks many, if not most, of them are fat oligopolists who pay their executives too much and should have their prices capped.

But he might at least be on their side when it comes to the threat that is causing wobbles in many European boardrooms - the rise of the activist investor. So far it has amounted to little more than a threat and the long-predicted wave of activism flooding from the US has been little more than a ripple. But it is on the rise.