FT should not lend support to the sophisticaters!

Sir in “The start of the great unwinding” January 26 you say “Complexity also adds to the dangers that any part of the hyper-financial system can bring down the whole” and you are right. Nonetheless, you follow it up by saying “Monoline insurers exemplify this kind of reef under the water” and this is clearly wrong; since having some undercapitalized insurers selling coverage while their good fortune last has nothing to do with complexity.

Many of us warned repeatedly about the counter-party risks with agents such as the monoline insurers and the reason it was hard to get that message heard was that it was so easy for them to find in their sleeves the sophistications that confused the issues and killed the debates. FT should not help the market to hide within the complexity in order to hide the simplicity, and perhaps a non-Davos retreat to reflect on what are the simple and time-honoured truths that lie behind the current turmoil could be a good place for you to start.