With the unimaginable and shattering human catastrophes of September 11 in the US fresh in our minds, it may seem insensitive, if not callous, to be discussing the possible impact on financial markets. But the markets are open and decisions have to be taken. The sooner the financial community gets back to business, the more it denies the terrorists the propaganda advantage they seek in their challenge to the free world and to consumer-choice capitalism.

There are some in Wall Street and the City of London who believe that investment management is one business activity where age is a positive advantage. Those who have been engaged in it since the 1950s or earlier are supposed to have superior wisdom because they have seen every type of economic and investment cycle. Certainly, they recognise by now that they have made every conceivable investment mistake at least once.