While awareness of peak oil has advanced light years since ODAC was founded over a decade ago, on the evidence of this week the same cannot be said for the conduct of British energy policy. Back in 2000, Tony Blair's government was blindsided by petrol protests that brought the country to a standstill in 48 hours.

Over the past 20 years, emerging economies have not only grown faster than advanced countries, but outperformed market expectations--leading to significant returns on investment.

One of the simplest ways to measure macroeconomic risk is to look at the twin deficit, defined as the sum of current account and budget deficit as a percentage of GDP.  Recent blow-ups like Iceland and Greece both scored highest on these fronts.  Looking at twin deficits gives a reliable indicator of the individual risk profile for a country in the context of a sudden spike in international funding costs or deleveraging.  On the latest reading, New Zealand and Turkey stand out (apart from the usual suspects, ie eurozone periphery and South Africa), with twin deficits well in excess of 10% f