Short-selling — a cold and callous way to profit from a company’s downturn, or an important source of market liquidity? It is an age old question that, let’s face it, will always divide opinion.

But the practice — exemplified most recently by the ongoing battle between Muddy Waters and Burford Capital — isn’t going away. The debate needs to shift away from a sterile debate on its morality, towards a more pragmatic discussion about the way it functions.