So there I was at one of those nice off-the-record dinners the other evening, discussing the financial crisis with various business figures. It was a good conversation, though some of the comments were a bit predictable. We all agreed, unsurprisingly, that “the long term” was what mattered in business. We did not agree what the long term was, or how we would know when we had got there.

I was lucky enough to be seated next to a distinguished business leader, the sort of person we used to call a Captain of Industry (CoI), when that term still meant something. The CoI participated fully in the evening’s debate, warning against the dangers of over-reacting to the crisis with excessive regulation.