One of the frequent complaints thrown at those, typically on the right, who have objected to the rise of ESG has been that they are “politicizing” the investment process. It was — and remains — an absurd argument. But ESG’s activists, propagandists and rent-seekers have been found out, and they have had to try something.

To go over some well-trodden ground, ESG is an investment “discipline” which (partly) involves measuring actual or potential companies by how highly they measure up against various conveniently vague environmental (“E”), social (“S”), and governance (“G”) criteria. DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion), an offshoot of ESG, ...