"God ! How men of letters are stupid."
- Napoleon Bonaparte.

Since the financial crisis slowly wove itself into the popular consciousness, we have tried, on occasion, to highlight our own hopes and fears via that tried and tested monitor of the financial commentariat's blood pressure, the FT letters page. Not all of the following submissions were published. In fact so very few of them made it, the simple, hopeful act of their conveyance resembled nothing so much as the opening day of the Battle of the Somme. We (re)publish them here so that they can be shared for posterity and savoured on those vast sunlit uplands that will play host to random financial chatter once the current crisis abates. If it ever does.

David Fuller's view Owners of gold should enjoy Tim Price's letters to the FT.