Simon Jack

So I remember covering that.

I think we all do.

I mean, I didn't think I'd ever cover a bigger story in my life.

And of course, then we had COVID.

Anyway, the point was, is that before the kind of earthquake that happened in 2008 and Lehman Brothers going bust and...

the world going into a financial crisis, there were a couple of tremors that happened before that.

And some of the tremors that happened then, some people have identified as happening now.

So you've got three things going on which have echoes of that time.

One is you've got surging energy costs.

Back in 2007, you saw very high rising energy prices.

You had the stress in some parts of the financial system.

Back then, it was a couple of funds that were investing in subprime mortgages suddenly closed down and said investors couldn't get their money out.

Right now, you see a couple of things called private credit, which I'm sure we'll get into what that is, saying you can't have all your money out.

It's a bit like a slow motion run on a bank like Northern Rock, for example, which was in September 2007.

Yes.

And then you had also some stretch valuations.

You had the stock market at or near all-time highs.

Now, you look at the financial headlines now, they look a bit like that.

You've got surging energy prices.

You've got distress in some of the financial system.