Investment: Sympathy for the devil

One morning, a few months ago, I woke up to discover I had turned into an Irish bank. This came as a surprise. I had no more seen my financial crisis coming than had the other Irish banks, and like them I found it acutely embarrassing. Unlike them, unfortunately, I had incinerated a pile of my own money rather than torching someone else’s savings.

I did this spread betting—which, I must stress, is a fun and potentially very profitable activity. They say that in investment, your mistakes teach you far more than your successes. If so, then spread betting offers…