The mystery of Britain’s dirt-cheap stockmarket

It is hard IPOto get a man to understand something, wrote Upton Sinclair, an American novelist, when his salary depends on not understanding it. Hard, but not impossible: just look at those paid to promote Britain’s stockmarket. Bankers and stock-exchange bosses have an interest in declaring it an excellent place to list new, exciting businesses, as do politicians. Yet deep down they seem keenly aware that it is doomed.Government ministers once spoke of “Big Bang 2.0”, a mixture of policies aiming to rejuvenate the City of London and, especially, attract initial public offerings (s). But if anyone ever thought an explosive, Thatcherite wave of deregulation was on its way, they do not any more. The new rules are now known as the more squib-like “Edinburgh reforms”. On December 8th the chair of the parliamentary committee overseeing their implementation chastised the responsible minister for a “lack of progress or economic impact”.