Almost 90 years ago, Maynard Keynes likened financial markets to a casino where the unscrupulous fleeced the unknowing, by seeking to “pass the depreciating half-crown to the other fellow”. He also argued that most successful were those that were able to predict what the “crowd” would buy or sell next, not those that sought to assess the magnitude of future returns. Short-termism won most of the time. Long-termism required discipline and deep pockets.

Roll forward to today and all that has changed is the fingertip availability of information and opinions on just about everything, coupled with the abi...