If it served no other purpose, a debate on the proposed European Union directive on alternative investment fund managers held in London this month at least gave financial types the opportunity to learn the odd trick from politicians on presenting a case.

Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, the primary force behind the proposal, gave sound advice to representatives of the private equity industry: "Don't begin by saying that everyone in private equity is the nicest guy on earth. Recognise you have some not-really-nice guys. Say you need to have some common rules to keep the bad guys out."