Most super-rich people I have met (not that many, I admit) have a healthy sense of self-deprecation, though this is sometimes balanced by the inability to judge when they have said too much (they are not used to being interrupted).

Within a couple of days in the past week I read about one – the legendary Wall Street investor Julian Robertson – and heard another in the flesh – Gerry Harvey, half of the Harvey Norman retail empire.

There's bad news, there's good news. Glass half empty, glass half full? Batman lunchbox or knitted cardigan?