‘In the investment world, you’re always a baby, you never know what happens next,’ says the remarkable Jonathan Ruffer, a veteran of the markets and chairman of the firm which bears his name. In spite of a marked streak of self-deprecation, Ruffer has a highly individual investment strategy which can only be the product of profound self-confidence. ‘I’ve always had the power of synthesis. The thing about investment is it covers absolutely everything that’s going on in the world – all the speeches, all the hedge funds, all the natural disasters, every bit of human enterprise tends to find its fulfilment in economic markets.
‘History is an encounter between human beings and circumstances. One of the great waves, which has been coming and going since Roman times, is internationalism.’ Ruffer believes that wave is now retreating and global markets are substantially overpriced. If he’s right, what will that look like? ‘Balkanisation is always bad for profits,’ he says, ‘but it brings societies back to life again. The resuscitation of communities at the expense of profitability is a good thing, but not good for markets.’
And Brexit? ‘I think of it as a farmer in a field of bullocks. Brexit is an outbreak of bullockry.’
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