They may be five or six time zones behind Europe but the North Americans are ahead of us in many ways that some would say are more important.

Take the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, for example. Set up by a far-sighted Canadian government five years ago to manage the pensions of working Canadians, the board, which expects to have C$160bn (€100bn) under management by 2013, has made a bullish allocation of 15% of its assets to private equity, property and natural resources.