Know Your Enemy

"Instead of an inquiring history, what we are left with is a reverential panorama of neoliberal capitalism. Above all, there is little investigation of the losers in the zero-sum game of money's ascent. The only possible cloud Ferguson spies on the future horizon of finance is democratic accountability, with its 'rules and regulations [that] can make previously good traits suddenly disadvantageous'. Quite where the Bear Stearns bail out and bank nationalisation fit into the picture is unclear."

The Observer's Tristram Hunt points out the spectacularly ill-judged tone of Niall Ferguson's book 'The Ascent Of Money: A Financial History Of The World' - and the companion television series, which began on C4 tonight.

Ah, the risks of badly-timed publication. Writing as someone who knows how long a process publication can be, it's a wonder this kind of instantly anachronistic book doesn't appear more frequently.