In the Life of Brian, a 1979 comedy from the Monty Python team, the hero ends up whistling the song Always Look on the Bright Side of Life despite having his hands nailed on each side of a cross.

Sound familiar?

Last weekend, Tony Hayward left for a yacht outing two days after a very public crucifixion on Capitol Hill. So was this a sign that he is a born optimist, convinced things can only get better -- or simply an admission that he might as well enjoy himself for a couple of days given he's likely to lose his job over the oil spill disaster in any case?

Retaining an upbeat tone, in an email to staff last Friday, Hayward again pledged to get [BP] through the immediate crisis as a stronger and safer company.

That was after a week that saw a congressional grilling, credit downgrades to just above junk status, a pledge to pay $20 billion into a cleanup and compensation fund and a freeze in dividend payouts for the rest of 2010.