People in my trade are rich in every kind of knowingness. We never like to be caught short of insightful cynicism. In everything there must be connections. As a matter of professional habit, we run the risk of outlining patterns that don't exist, endowing politicians with powers they do not have and bonds they do not recognise. It is important to be wary of seeing too much - but also, it must be said at the same time, of seeing too little.
Money is a frequent source of conspiratorial excess.
Appearances matter here, which is why the rules about the disclosure of political money are very tight. But the story of Geoffrey Robinson's huge loan to enable Peter Mandelson to buy a house in 1996 has been shaped by heated exaggeration of its meaning. Now that Robinson has told the story again, we find an account that offers little disagreement with the version Mandelson has always given. Yet it is seized on as a revelation fit to change the course of history. The story is simple.