Stock-picking is usually like betting on a marathon, separating the fastest from the least fleet of foot. But as of yesterday, UK plc resembles more a disaster scene, with investors engaged in the ghastly, desperate task of triage, distinguishing the dying and near-dead from the severely injured and the walking-wounded. Taylor Wimpey is just the most public case of a company shut out of the rights issue market and now shunned by outside investors as it seeks a vital injection of capital. The dire specifics of the housing market mean you cannot blame institutions for being wary. But more generally, investors have endured a series of slights since last summer.

It's often in investors' interests to co-operate with capital raising. They were accomplices in the merger and leverage binge that put some of these companies into casualty. But you can see how, on a bad day such as yesterday, some might reflect that their rights have been trampled (Northern Rock, Bradford & Bingley), their opinions ignored (M&S), and their pockets picked (HBOS, Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays). It's natural that they're running out of patience, and logical that they should now admit only the most deserving cases to intensive care.