UNDERSTANDABLY the pay bonanza enjoyed by executives at Corus, the merged British Steel-Hoogovens business, attracted much attention in the North-East especially on Teesside where the Corus plant is under threat.

Though the company hasn't made a penny since it was created in 1999, and last year lost £393m, the pay of sacked chief executive Tony Pedder rose 32 per cent to £571,000. Due to receive a pay-off of £550,000, Mr Pedder has a pension of £203,720 a year. Meanwhile, the total package of Stuart Pettifor, who took over as chief operating officer, tripled to £345,000.

But the Corus fat cats are by no means alone on the Pay and Pensions Express, that lavishly-upholstered gravy train that carries only first class passengers. Put together from reports only since the start of the Iraq war, here is a picture of just some of the favoured travellers.

Marjorie Scardino, chief executive of media group Pearson, received £273,000 in bonuses on top of her salary of £525,000. Her payments included £36,090 for 'housing costs'.

Helping lift his total remuneration from £1.34m to £1.56m, cash bonuses and shares more than doubled the £630,000 salary of David Prosser, chief executive of Legal and General.

Forced to quit after disastrous results, Paul Dreschler, chairman and chief executive of ICI business Quest, is said to be in line for a pay-off of £325,000. His pension is £138,000 a year.

'Pension pot' rises include: Niall Fitzgerald, chairman of Unilever - up £2.3m to £11.72m, worth an annual £718,000; Sir Philip Watson, chairman of Royal Dutch Shell, up £1.48m to £7.9m, worth £480,000 a year. Non-contributory until last October, the pension of John Hodson, chairman of merchant bank Singer and Friedland, is worth £287,000 a year.

Mike Turner, chief executive of BAE systems, received a bonus of £115,000 despite a two-thirds collapse in the share price of his company, which recorded a £616m loss. His sacked/early-retiring predecessor, John Weston, received £540,000 compensation and a £939,000 boost to his pension fund, worth £166,243 a year.

In his retirement year, Sir Peter Burt, executive deputy director of HBOS (Halifax BS/Bank of Scotland) received a bonus of £347,000 on top of his salary of £663,000. And the final-year salary and benefits of Marcus Beresford, chief executive of engineering group GKN, more than doubled, from £500,000 to £1.23m. Those of his counterpart at materials group Cookson, Stephen Howard, rose from £761,000 to £987,000 despite Cookson's collapse almost to bankruptcy.

Ousted as chief executive of Royal and Sun Alliance after it reported record losses, Bob Mendelsohn received £1.4m for 'resigning', on top of £600,000 in salary. Even after he was sacked, he received £32,552 for a car and accommodation in central London. A 40 per cent fall in the share price of the Pru didn't stop six directors sharing bonuses worth £2.4m.

But isn't this column meant to comment, not just report? Right. Here's the comment. We are about to enter the seventh year of a Labour Government.