Those who truly lead are able to create a following of people who act not because they were swayed, but because they were inspired.

Hello Everyone,

Those who truly lead are able to create a following of people who act not because they were swayed, but because they were inspired. (Simon Sinek).

In these present times, our country and many in the rest of the world are crying out for such people. I am sure that there must be politicians who fall into this category, but for the moment only one comes instantly to my mind, and that is President Zelensky of the Ukraine. Let us hope that in the not-too-distant future there will be a solution to this war and an end to Putin, the destruction, and the futile loss of life on both sides of the conflict.

In the future, when the adding up is done, I will be curious to know just how much the West has financed the Ukraine, and how much this has contributed to inflation, national debt and subsequently rising interest rates. We already know that due to rising prices, the big oil and energy companies have enjoyed enormous gratis lifts to their profits, as must have those that manufacture the new and old technology weaponry that is sold to our governments, and then gifted to the Ukraine. Now I have no problem with the gifting, but I do wish that it was made clear that it is we the taxpayers that makes the gift, not the government.

I have also been wondering how much of a democracy there is now left in the UK. It would seem to me that it is the unelected media who, by their misreporting and exaggeration, decide on which direction the country takes for the future. Politicians and the financial policies of the country would seem to be fair game to them. Now they have moved on to blaming the government for the lack of food and heating for some unfortunate people and everything else that is troublesome. Perhaps next they will move onto the onset of bird flu and the lack of turkeys for Christmas. I have long believed that politicians should only serve a maximum of two parliaments and not be allowed to earn afterwards from their acquired knowledge for the duration of the following parliament. There must be something similar that could be derived for journalists funded by licence fees!

I am a great believer in the necessity to have a strong environmental policy to combat global warming and the current ecological destruction of the world. Of course if any progress is to be made it is necessary that the largest polluting nations should also be joining in with the same enthusiasm. For economic and social reasons this may not be possible in developing nations, so perhaps that is where the UN has a meaningful role to play. It may be that I am being childish, but a considered and controlled reduction in the world’s population would be a major step forward. Better that this takes place by design because beyond this place there may be dragons!

Today the UK has huge financial problems which are making it difficult to keep to its environmental promises. This is largely due to restricted energy supply at higher prices. However this should not be a problem, it should be acceptable to take a step backwards in order to go forward in the future. That is what you would do if you were running your own business, and wanted to survive. The UK has potentially vast fossil fuel resources, and these in my opinion should be revisited whilst more secure ‘in house’ green sources come on board.

I apologise to anybody who followed me into investing into ITM Power and Ceres Power. They have turned into runaway loss makers. ITM peaked around three years ago, and by steps has fallen down to where it is now. I invested when it was around 130p and happily saw it rise to 680p, but it then did a smart about turn and is now almost exactly 100p. ITM’s price demise would seem to be caused by an extended twelve-month delay in producing its first major industrial electrolysis stack. The CEO has now been replaced! I am still a great believer in hydrogen as a fuel for trucks, buses, ships and other larger users, but perhaps not for cars. I still own 25% of my original investment and intend to sit on this until “death do us part.”

Some months ago the Saltydog specialist sector numbers were indicating that energy and commodity funds were showing signs of coming to life. This made sense considering the sanctions being applied on Russia, and Putin’s retaliatory actions restricting the flow of oil, gas, grain and fertilizer to the West. This resulted in these commodities soaring in price. The following funds have subsequently proved to be a sound investment, because they have benefited from the resulting rising prices. When we reviewed the numbers last week they were showing positive gains over 4, 12 and 26 weeks. All of these funds are in my portfolio with TB Guinness taking the lead.



It would be nice to think that Sunak, Hunt and the other members of the cabinet were able to bring some stability to our government. The clamour generated (or not), from the receipt of the Autumn Statement later this week will give us some pointers as to what sort of ride we are in for. Again, there are hints from our numbers and graphs that the UK funds might just be in for a positive run. The PEs for UK companies are historically low, so a believable budget, and a strengthening currency, might just do the trick. I am watching carefully before investing.

Timing the market is an impossible task, and holding a large percentage of my investments in cash or the equivalent has given me comfort in recent times. I have to accept that if the markets turns up dramatically before I can react, then I will lose some of this gain. The old saying will be proved true, “It is too late to fatten your pig on market day”.

Best wishes and good luck with your investments.

Douglas
Founder & Chairman