When Rowan Williams and John Sentamu took up their crosiers against short-sellers, they chose strange company: Ken Lay, the disgraced chief executive of Enron, Dennis Kozlowski, the jailed boss of Tyco (who took out full-page ads against short-sellers, before his company sank under the burden of accounting fraud) and the former prime minister of Malaysia Dr Mahathir Mohamad are probably the most renowned critics of short-sellers. In recent weeks they have been joined by assorted Labour frontbenchers, including Yvette Cooper and Hazel Blears.
They are a motley crew. The common thread, linking business executives and politicians, is blame shifting — or to use a more biblical term, ‘scapegoating’.
The best short-sellers, on the other hand — the likes of Jim Chanos of Kynikos, or David Einhorn — see themselves as defenders of truth, lone rangers who take on the might of corporations such as Enron, Tyco, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and Lehman Brothers and shine a light on flawed business strategies and bad practice.
Get Britain's best politics newsletters
Register to get The Spectator's insight and opinion straight to your inbox. You can then read two free articles each week.
Already a subscriber? Log in
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in