Now, here’s a thing. If you want to find plain-spoken good sense on the unfolding dramas in the world’s financial markets, the place to go is Brussels. Charlie McCreevy, the EU Internal Market Commissioner, does not mince his words like some politicians nor make kneejerk attacks on “locusts” like others. Instead, he has rightly judged that the problems in the financial markets have not been caused by the hedge funds. (They may not even be the greatest victims of it - we wait for results from Lehmans, Bear Stearns and Barclays with trepidation.) He has identified the conflict of interest in the ratings agencies. And he has taken a suitably flinty approach to risk in the financial world: “I do not criticise those who make fortunes when times are good. I am not going to shed any tears now if there are losses.”

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