Gambling

The News of the World's revelations about connivance between cricketers and bookmakers is dismaying; the story can't alas, be considered wholly surprising. If proved - and on the face of it there's every reason to suppose that the allegations are accurate - then it's difficult to see how Salman Butt and the other players implicated can escape heavy punishment (and perhaps in the skipper's case a lifetime ban). The consolation, in as much as there is one, is that the evidence points to spot-fixing rather than match-fixing. Saying that the former is not as serious as the latter does not mean it's unserious. It just means that matters could be worse. And perhaps they are, given how much we don't know.

Actually, as Megan explains, the lesson of Bernie Madoff's scam is that there really aren't any lessons that can be drawn. As she puts it, "Everyone just screwed up". That leaves us in the unsatisfying position of having no-one, apart from the remarkable Mr Madoff, of course, to blame. Sometimes stuff really does just happen and there aren't any deep and meaningful lessons to learn or "underlying" or "contributory" villains to blame. As Megan says, this disconcerts, since it deprives us of the endlessly satisfying consolations of sweet vindictiveness and righteous indignation. A con-man is a con-man is a con-man. His status as such does nothing to advance the case against George W Bush or Milton Friedman or the market or anything else. Me?