I was listening to the Bottom Line a fortnight ago when one of the guests Hugh Hendry, Partner at Eclectica Asset Management and a fully-paid up representative of the hedge fund industry - made a complete horlicks of himself in the company of a fair trade social entrepreneur and some other business luminaries. His arrogance and certainty was certainly out of kilter with the mood of pessimism and fragility at the time. I cannot claim to understand completely the subtle contribution that hedge funds make to improving living standards, creating genuine and sustainable wealth and allocating scarce capital towards its most efficient use! But Robert Peston’s blog today is well worth a read as global hedge funds come under enormous pressure.

And I cannot resist a wry smile at the accompanying EcoWin chart showing a collossal fall in the value of global hedge fund assets under investment.