That the Business Secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, failed to make this distinction between real investment and financially driven transactions is quite frankly startling.
Words used by Kwarteng in his LBC interview have a tired familiarity. They were the same arguments mustered by then chancellor George Osborne when Pfizer launched its failed £86billion bid for Astrazeneca (AZ) in 2014.
Were it not for a robust defence by AZ there might be no life-saving Oxford-AZ Covid vaccine. The pharma group has since been transformed into Britain's most valuable company, worth more than £130billion.
Similarly, when Softbank chief Masayoshi Son bought Arm Holdings for £24billion in 2016, he was welcomed at Downing Street as a conquering hero and the deal seen as backing for post-Brexit Britain.