Tips from Jamie’s Kitchen

Jamie Oliver would make an excellent investment manager. Not because he’s moonlighting as a private-equity mogul — although his rival influencer of public opinion, the rockstar/philanthropist Bono, is doing exactly that — but because Jamie knows that in putting together a good dinner, or even a single dish, two aspects are vitally important. All the ingredients must be of the highest quality, and they must complement each other perfectly.

If the white wine is too warm and the lollo rosso too limp, Jamie will see his friends stampeding for McDonald’s. Investment management is similar, though unlike celebrity cooking it hasn’t yet entered popular culture. No television programmes called Ready, Steady, Trade!; no Nigella Lawson Eastern Opportunities Fund (not yet, anyway). But many investors, reading the money pages of the popular press and seeing countless articles touting this or that fund, might appreciate a recipe to help them cook up their own investment soup.