The standard personality type for a writer is a shy megalomaniac.

The seven Ps: Proper Planning and Preparation Prevent Piss-Poor Performance

In an ideal world, one populated by vegetarians and Esperanto speakers, derivatives would be used for one thing only: reducing levels of risk. The list of individual traders who have lost more than a billion dollars at a time betting on derivatives is not short.

People would rather earn 60 grand in an area where their neighbours earn 40, than earn 80 in an area where their neighbours earn a hundred.

The person doing the worrying experiences it as a form of love; the person being worried about experiences it as a form of control.

In other words, RBS had its origins in a failed speculation, a bail-out, and a financial crash so big it helped destroy Scotland's status as a separate nation.

We wouldn't care so much what people thought of us if we knew how seldom they did.