When a boy of the Algonquin people of Quebec reached puberty, they were taken to a secluded area and given a powerful and extremely hallucinogenic poison called Wysoccan, in the hope that this would purge their young minds of any memory of their childhood and leave them with a clean slate to face the years ahead. Some were so badly stricken by the drug that they would also lose the ability to speak and be unable to recognise members of their own family. Having spent most of the last fortnight pursuing the same effect via the ingestion of red wine and endless rich snacks, it is in the fervent hope of memory loss this time next year that we put forward once more our investment trust team’s top picks for 2024.