The great and good of Edinburgh always turn up at events if they know Robin Angus, the executive director of the Personal Assets Trust (PAT), is going to speak. And quite right too: he is exceptionally good. Last week, he spoke at an investment conference and while he made his audience semi-hysterical with giggles by announcing that he believes the next bull market in equities will start "the day the first tram runs in Edinburgh," he didn't have much good to say. Instead, he noted that the current economic situation is "diabolical" and that for the first time in generations, "our children could be worse off than us."
He mocked the world's finance ministers. They are, he said, totally out of their depth: "gabbling and sweating like unsuccessful applicants on The Apprentice." That said, he still said he expected a political solution of some kind if not a lasting one. "When politics and economics disagree, politics always wins but economics then takes its revenge."
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