At least Wonga is open to debate There were questions that he would not answer - such as Wonga's return on capital - but, as the head of a private company, he has every right not to. Damelin described the company he co-founded in 2006 as a "private company operating in a public way" and that is precisely what it is doing. Rather than hide behind the, at times, opaque nature of its venture capital ownership, Wonga has chosen to communicate its strategy and profitability. The ethics of Wonga's core business are questionable and have, rightly, triggered a heated public debate but it is a young British company trying to explain what it does and why it does it. Better to be part of the debate than hide from the spotlight. Frackers aren't doing themselves any favours Abysmal. That was the US Energy Information Administration's verdict on Britain's initial attempts at shale gas exploration, after fracking firm Cuadrilla caused two earthquakes, prompting an 18-month ban. The EIA's experts, who issued their verdict at the start of the summer, must be scratching their heads for an adjective to encapsulate the political, regulatory and corporate blunders since then. One might have thought that 18 months would have been sufficient time for companies and regulators to get watertight plans together. And yet Cuadrilla's drilling in Balcombe - ironically for oil, not even for shale gas - has now twice been derailed by environmental campaigners. Friends of the Earth forced the Environment Agency to backtrack over waste permits, delaying the start of drilling and forcing Cuadrilla to seek to extend its planning permit. Now that, too, has been scuppered and work delayed again after Friends of the Earth pointed out the planning application was not up to scratch. Protest camps at Balcombe are damaging to the fracking cause; they may dissuade other communities from approving drilling in their area. Handing opponents ammunition by creating the worrying impression that regulators are unprepared will be yet more damaging still.