Earlier today European leaders renewed their calls for a new debt-rating agency, to challenge the current triumvarate of Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch. The Polish government, which has just taken over the presidency of the EU, has taken up the cudgels. Anger with the agencies mounted, after Moody’s downgraded Irish debt to junk status earlier this week.

But surely one should expect capricious and ill-tempered decisions from an organisation that actually calls itself Moody? As for the other two, they might as well be called Sulky and Snitch. Read more