George Soros is one of the great enigmas of our time. He is the consummate buccaneer, raking in billions of dollars through predatory assaults on the financial markets, yet he behaves like a pinstriped Robin Hood, ploughing his wealth into socially inspired causes. He claims to be able to divine patterns in the markets, but often gets it embarrassingly wrong. Consumed, or so he says, by self-doubt, he nevertheless feels confident enough to preach to world leaders about how to run their affairs.

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