The worst thing to happen to hedge funds was that the stock market went up. At first, it did not seem such

a bad thing. The market went up by 20 per cent in 2003 and many hedge funds rocketed by 30-40 per cent. The guys who went up "only" 12 per cent that year were able to claim: "No problem. We were also up 10 per cent in 2002 when the market was down 20 per cent, so pick your poison."