In Hong Kong last week I watched some of the Rugby Sevens and I found it ceaselessly stimulating without being properly satisfying. A full rugby or soccer match, or even a one-day cricket match, can be majestic at times, with both drama and catharsis. But the Rugby Sevens and many of the quickie versions of formerly deliberate and measured games, even when there are sudden turnarounds near the end of the game, evoke the frustration of watching repeated sitcoms rather than a movie, of serial flirtations without consummation.

In the book I’ve been working on,I mention that Spinoza’s theory of the emotions distinguishes pleasure from stimulation (Latin titillatio), the latter being a pleasure which is focused more on some parts of the body than others. Pleasure is global, stimulation local.

Everyone may want a quickie but how many in succession can you stand?

Which brings me to the bailout and related matters. You have to admire Neil Barofsky and Irving Picard, who are slow and never give up trying to get things right and continue to call them when they are wrong.