Andrew Left of Citron Research is one of the sharpest cookies in the global shorting conspiracy. He has just recorded an interview on CNBC discussing two blockchain/bitcoin shorts in the US. Change your name and your shares soar even though there is nothing there? Sound familiar Clem?

Tesco (TSCO) shares are little changed today and progress or not over the next few weeks will be highly dependent on the infamous Christmas trading update of early January. I have no great tactical insights on this but I am hopeful it will be part of the strategic improvement and opportunity in the stock I noted a couple of months or so ago HERE. Certainly the share has shown a bit of form recently and this has been driven by improving sales metrics, hopes for the generation of enhanced margin and cashflows, lower debt...and the potential from the Booker (BOK) takeover. It is the latter which is in the news today.

Yesterday AIM-listed Octagonal (OCT) released a Director’s Dealings RNS. Nothing unusual about that, you might think, but the text was announcing that CEO John Gunn was taking a loan secured against his shares in the company. Is he doing an Equities First type of deal?

Yesterday’s second new entrant Pelatro (PTRO) appears to be a great little company to me. I accept that it could just be the massive contrast between this and disappointing Mirriad Advertising (MIRI) in almost every respect but this still looks like a Buy to me. Let me explain.

This is a total car crash video interview with Longfin's (LFIN) CEO and CNBC. I discussed the insanity of Nasdaq star Longfin in bearcast yesterday but the CEO seems to agree with me about the valuatiuon. Meanwhile as he discusses related party deals and other matters he is quite simply taken apart. But I admire his honesty. This chap surely shows the way for OnLine (ONL) boss Clem Chambers. Enjoy...

An interesting compare and contrast for me today looking at the two technology businesses that joined AIM yesterday at a very similar share price. That is where the similarities end though as one is a classic example of an overvalued business bid up by participants in the valuation echo chamber and one looks like that rare mythological beast – a Cynical Bear Buy tip. Let’s start with Mirriad Advertising (MIRI), the massive Sell pick.

I have been a big fan of Horizonte Minerals (HZM) for some time now, and am even more so following an acquisition announcement. The market didn’t take the news that this AIM listed mining company, with operations in Brazil, had acquired a further nickel-cobalt project particularly well - the shares down by over 6% to 4p on the ask, but I suspect that was largely as a result of an issue of equity coming at the same time, rather than a reflection of what people think of the newly acquired Vermelho project, which Horizonte now owns 100% of.

Hello Share Seekers. Christmas sees a big market for women's make-up, as everyone dashes off to business, social and family parties. So a company which should be raking it in at the moment is Warpaint London (W7L).

Well I never, it appears that the Worthington (WRN) Crew has indeed listed son of Worthington (WRN)or at least has filed an admission document. It looks as if Whetsone Capital  (WHET) shares will start to trade on the NEX Markets lobster pot on January 5th.

Bravo AllAgents.co.uk. The leading independent review site of Estate Agents is ignoring fascist lawyers letters from Purplebricks (PURP) and has just re-started publishing reviews of the crummy online estate agent, good and bad. Natch Purplebricks is still insisting that the reviews are bogus without providing any evidence at all and boy are some of the reviews bad as you can see below. In the end companies offering a socking service will - however much they spend on TV advertising - go under. Purplebricks shares remain a stonking sell.

I am still in a foul mood. Bah fucking humbug. The season of Goodwill is cancelled. This podcast contains a lot of bad language. I look at blockchain madness: Coinsilium (COIN), On Line (ONL), Vela (VELA) and Longfin (US:LFIN) on Nasdaq. Buy why is Milestone (MSG) missing out?  Well Larry Cummins is a liar and that is just for starters. I look at Fishing Republic (FISH) where a statement is needed and then there is a detailed look at the latest horse served up by Uk Oil & Gas (UKOG) which is a stand out slam dunk sell for reasons I explain in detail.

Online fashion retailer focused on India, Koovs (KOOV) has announced results for its half-year ended 30th September 2017 – including CEO Mary Turner “pleased with the progress we have made in our business fundamentals”. Sounds encouraging…

AIM-listed Tern plc (TERN) has announced a follow-on investment into InVMA totalling £125,000 to add to its previous investment of £250,000. All very well, but what happened to the expected follow-on of £250,000 at the end of October? It seems to be almost two months late, and only half the money. Why might that be?

Back in October I talked about how you could profitably play at being a hedge fund manager via buying some shares in media giant Sky (SKY) - see HERE. From then to now this call has worked out well and the discount to the proposed takeover price has narrowed sharply. Sounds like a building need to make a decision whether to hold on or cash out...except a lot of other stuff has changed.

AIM-listed Alpha Returns Group (ARGP) is not only a member of our Filthy Forty, but also has an interesting past as the disaster that was Digital Learning Marketplace (DLM) under Angus Forrest (recently departed from Tern plc). Its Nomad, until 18 October, was ZAI Corporate Finance but ZAI lost its Nomad licence. So Alpha Returns turned (or, rather, returned) to Beaumont Cornish.

Yesterday it was announced that Ryan Dinsdale, the CEO of Purplebricks Australia, on 13 December 2017 exercised options over 40,000 Ordinary Shares in Purplebricks PLC (PURP) at £1.29 each and subsequently sold 40,000 Ordinary Shares at £3.65 each. So what you say.

A little bird emailed me with some interesting questions about AIM-listed React Group (REAT) and its new(ish) FD. In the light of the HotStockRockets update at the weekend (see HERE), where questions over the management’s ability to get their sums right were asked in the wake of a revised (downwards) trading statement, it seems that the FD has a few questions to answer – and I have some more.

Tom Winnifrith has voiced his suspicions that AIM-listed UK Oil and Gas (UKOG) has been playing fast and loose with the rules over timely announcements of conversions of its death spiral funding package. A trip to Companies House suggests he is right...

As a natural bear, I’m always interested in finding the next £200 million plus business that could lose 90% in a year a la RM2 International (RM2) this year (see question 4 of my Alternative Woodford Christmas quiz) and I didn’t have to look far for the next possibility; just a bit further down the alphabetical list of Woodford’s holdings in fact, namely Xeros Technology Group (XSG).

Nigel Wray's family buys the UK Investor Show, confronting the new takeover code, five buy share tips (and three sells), plus what are they drinking in Scotland?