Since Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng’s disastrous mini budget sent a wrecking ball through the gilt market in September 2022, the ‘moron premium’ has entered common parlance, at least within financial circles. The phrase, which refers to sovereign debt yields rising because of politicians’ mistakes, was brought out of retirement and dusted off when 30-year gilt yields spiked in August and September 2025, peaking around 5.7%¹. 

It’s an old adage that there’s no such thing as a free lunch – somewhere down the line there’s a payment to be made. Except perhaps in the world of fixed income.  

Many great thinkers through the ages have prized the concept of simplicity. Leonardo da Vinci believed it to be “the ultimate sophistication”; Albert Einstein quipped that “everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler”; while author William Golding concluded that “the greatest ideas are the simplest”. Then why, I wonder, do so many investment professionals try to make things so complicated?