I have long been fascinated by cult churches. The all-powerful Pastor who will take your wife or daughter to be his concubine. Just to prove to you that he can. It was why my eyes were drawn to the recent prosecution of Chris Brain, former head of the high profile evangelical movement, Nine O’Clock Service, convicted at Inner London Crown Court, of indecent assault against nine women, dating back to the 1980s and ’90s. I remember hearing about it. Then it all went quiet for a couple of decades. All very tame compared with Dwight York’s Nuwabian Nation, which was famed for the new age Egyptian pyramids built on its Georgia campus.
Another cult church the subject of recent TV coverage is the Jesus Army. That caught my eye because many years ago I often saw their very colourful minivan parked up at the southbound motorway service station on the M1 near Flitwick. I knew nothing about the Jesus Army but was always impressed by the bright flowery colours and their big ‘ Jesus Army’ emblazoned along the side. I’m sure they were having fun.
I hesitate to use the phrase ‘small investor’. ‘Tiny’ would be better. Even miniscule. I trade out of my share ISA. So what am I telling you?
Always rely on your own research and professional judgement. Don’t be led by what someone else is telling you. Magazines like ‘Investors Chronicle’, are great for generating ideas for someone coming to it new. But remember that as soon as IC recommends a share, its price will shoot up. So take a step back and wait a few weeks before making that decision. Some of the online recommendations always seem to me to be over optimistic, as if they want to pull you in.
I opened up my share Isa about a year before covid. When that struck, my account dipped £5,000 overnight. So did everybody else’s. I wondered whether it might be a great time to buy. But every time I bought a share, thinking that it was already at rock bottom, it would go down a little further. But eventually things picked up, as it did for all of us.
I also try to be an ethical investor. I always try to invest in companies which manufacture in the UK. I also look for geopolitical changes to guide me towards companies in which to invest. Following the recent America and India trade deals, I looked at the whiskey Industries, whom I think are likely to most benefit. Even though I’m not a whiskey drinker. At the moment there’s a lot of news about weight loss drugs and how demand is outstripping supply. So far the only talk is about demands on the NHS. But I guess that it won’t be long before some of the pharmaceutical companies will be launching their own over-the-counter equivalents. So I want to get in there. I wanted to invest in the American company, Eli Lilly, which is a leader in the field, but my Isa platform wouldn’t let me. So I guess that I’m going to have to settle for AstraZeneca.
I’ve also started to look at companies who manufacture renewable energy euipment in the UK. I found a few and have invested.
For me, the most important indicator of a share’s performance is the official graph. As long as the line keeps going up, I will hang in there. But as soon as it begins to plateau, I will think about what I need to do. Maybe it’s time to cash in part of that shareholding and keep running the rest of the shares in that company. When I’m investing in a new share, I try to start with a few hundred pounds to see how it works out. Then, if the value increases, this gambler will shove some more money on the table. Hope this is helpful.
Whenever I hear that a piece of music has been specially composed for an event, I know that I’m not going to enjoy it. I’d been listening to the BBC Proms trying to enjoy a piece by a modern composer I’d never heard of. After 5 minutes, I gave up. For me, such music is too abstract. A clever combination of notes without any melodic theme. The tootle of a trumpet. The bang of a tympani. The screech of a violin as a comet hurtles across space. All very artistic. But it doesn’t engage me emotionally. I want something I can hum along to. I also think that the reason why we never hear any of this type of music on the commercial radio stations is that it just wouldn’t sell.
Specially composed music hasn’t always been like that. Think about Puccini. Handel’s Water Music. Edward Elgar. And I’m never bored listening to Hans Zimmer’s Pirates of the Caribbean. That is the music we’re going to be listening to 100 years from now.
For me, the two biggest switch offs have always been Mrs Brown’s Boys and the Archers. Don’t get me wrong. I love the Archers’ intro music. ‘Dum de dum de dum de dum. Dum de dum de dum dum.’ But that’s where it stops. I’d rather listen to the shipping forecast. Around 15 years ago I worked with someone who actually claimed to listen to the Archers. Really!
Even though I’ve never been big on soaps. I am still impressed by the way programs like Coronation Street and East Enders draw me in. Even when I don’t like the characters. It was the same with the Jeremy Kyle show before they took it off air. It just grabbed my attention. Such a shame that it’s gone.
I’m nervous about Leveson’s proposals to abolish jury trial in intermediate cases and replace them with trial by a judge and two magistrates. It is as though he’s suggesting that either way offences carrying a likely penalty of less than 3 years imprisonment are not serious. But a theft conviction can be very serious if you lose your career as a result. Fair enough if you are actually guilty of the offence charged. That’s where the jury comes in. People like you and me with the same collective sense of fairness and justice. Not quite the same when you are facing an impatient prosecution-minded magistrate or judge who just wants to get through their case list. And what is the point of even electing trial, if you are not going to get to argue your case before 12 people who are living similar lives as you are.
Another thing I have long noticed is the increasing remoteness for our justice system from common expectations of right and wrong. Where everything seems to be decided on on academic technicality. We’ve come a long way since the passing of ‘people’s judge’, Tom Denning. Then there is the secrecy over the judicial appointments process itself. Whether it’s the appointment of judges and magistrates or the members of a parole board, who ignore public outrage when releasing a dangerous murderer. Who appoints these people? I’m sure that I have never been consulted. All that is left between them and us is 12 members of a jury. Now they want to take that away, Why? Because of successive government incompetence when it comes to our criminal justice system. How does it save money by delaying a case for two or three years instead of bringing it on now? It just doesn’t make sense to me.
My own solution would be to move to an American system of elected judges and magistrates. Make them accountable.
BRUCE AND HOLLY 