Elizabeth Kübler-Ross, a Swiss doctor who worked with the terminally ill, analysed characteristic human reactions to loss or bereavement. Her approach, used today by counsellors around the world, also describes how people behave when dumped by their partner, when they are fired and when they lose their wallets. The analysis is also relevant to market responses to financial blow-outs, from the South Sea bubble to the structured debt crisis.

The first stage is one of shock and denial. "You can't be leaving me!" "We're still dancing," said Chuck Prince, unaware that this was his last waltz: those who remember Walter Wriston's comment that "countries can't go broke" will realise that a gift for the memorably unfortunate phrase seems a necessary requirement for the top job at Citigroup.