For reasons that are sometimes difficult to understand, hedge fund managers relish being perceived as shadowy financiers who wield great power by being able to manipulate the puppet strings of the world's biggest markets. What are they afraid of? Is it the Inland Revenue or the gumshoes from the Financial Services Authority, who wouldn't understand what they do anyway?

Hedge funds are so exclusive that they are closed for even most wealthy investors, let alone the general public. Their managers, with a fair wind behind them for several years, have made so much money that they have almost become an individual asset class in themselves. They are a club without a clubhouse, captain or secretary. Membership is strictly by invitation only.