Lonmin (LMI) is a company that I have followed closely for several years, but after the latest updates this week, and with platinum still looking weak, I wouldn’t be in any rush to buy.

Gold bugs will need no convincing. Gold bears will say yadda, yadda, yadda. But for those on the fence this research note from Palisade is worth a read. Beware of the risks of having no gold exposure in your portfolio.

There can be no winners with this edition of the Caption Contest, as the entries show. Only the least horrible.

Libertarian gold bug Peter Schiff is a big hero of Tom Winnifrith. He called the 2008 crash and he has also made some duff calls. But what he says about US retail in his latest podcast is fascinating. What happens in the US will wash over to the UK in due course. This is terrifying stuff to listen to.

Hello Share Trudgers. There’s been talk of a collapse in property prices on this august website. As I’ve often posited, I consider this too dire a view of the bricks and mortar game.

Even in the Snakefields of Greece I keep on breaking news! On 9th May I revealed that UK Oil & Gas (UKOG) was endeavouring to raise £6 million at 1p - with the shares then trading at 1.2p bid. That forced an angry admission from the company that it was all true. Another scalp and fine piece of investigative journalism saw the shares then tumble to 1p. For long suffering holders and believers in Horse Hill, I have more bad news.

I previously commented on 21st Century Technology (C21) “having admitted ‘liquidity issues’, it’s expensive debt ahoy (it hopes!)”. The company has today made “Contract Win” and “Directorate Change” announcements…

Having previously suggested future ramparoonies for the company to place into somewhat more limited, Kin Group (KIN, the former Fitbug) “is pleased to announce that it has… agreed to issue convertible unsecured loan notes with a term of three years, to raise up to £1.125 million (before expenses), to Belastock Capital L.P., an overseas based institutional investor”. Hmmm…

Caption this photo of Jezza Corbyn's new battle bus borrowed from his pals in the IRA. Deadline is midnight tonight. Entries showing a complete lack of taste will stand a greater chance of winning

The most important central bank-created bubble is in housing, because it makes owners of it feel wealthier (so Politicians love it too) and it facilitates bubbles in stocks and bonds. Home prices in many places in the world have grown much higher than either economic growth or homebuyers’ wages can justify or even maintain longer term.

Well it looks as though D-day is today after all for the triggering of an EGM to drop the nominal (par) price of AIM-listed Advanced Oncotherapy (AVO) stock so as to allow Bracknor to resume its convert-and-dump operations. With the shares edging a little higher this morning, one is tempted to wonder whether some heavy boardroom buying might be enough to lift the shares back over the 27.5p mark just in the nick of time. But there is a fair way to go, with the stock still 2.25p short of salvation. 

AIM-listed wannabe holiday resort developer Minoan (MIN) has tested the patience of even the most saintly of saints for years and years. It has a plan to build a resort in northern Crete which has been going through Greek permitting and legal processes which make our own UK planning environment look as nimble as an Olympic gymnast. Of course, the misery has been about to come to an end for years, but perhaps now the green light really is imminent. Is it worth a punt?

We own Falanx (FLX) shares and are currently well over 100% up on our investment with stock at 9.5p mid. HotStockRockets readers are now 100% ahead on the share tip too. So with the stock surging on the basis of the massive cyber attack that started on the NHS on Friday what to do? First realise that this is a political scandal. 

Oh dear, oh dear, the net is closing in on Roberty Simon Terry, the man behind the UK's biggest stockmarket fraud Quindell. Aussie Poltroons Slater & Gordon (SGH) which has almost bankrupted itself after paying £649 million for most of the worthless Quindell businesses from what is now Watchstone Group (WTG) has made an announcement.

iAs always, the competition was sharp, but the accountants, made up of teams from PwC and the FCA, have counted the votes several times and declared, "Eh, close enough."

In August 2015 AIM Casino listed fraud Eden Research (EDEN) announced that it had sold a license to its long time associated company Terpenetech for £600,000. On the same day it announced that it had bought a 29% stake in (worthless) Terpenetech for £920,000 in shares. I quizzed Eden's PR man Paul "Queenie" McManus of Walbrook PR about this deal which was clearly a panama pump fraud. And Queenie lied to me.

Hello Share Squirters. As I get older, I become more fearful about my health. Apart from a minor problem with the old prostate, I am not yet troubled by illness. But I think disaster may be around the corner, especially if I do not watch my diet and take preventative steps to slow down wearing out. So it would only be fair to consider buying shares in a company which fulfils those needs.

The starting gun on the next general election has been fired so unexpectedly that the report has been felt throughout the country. But the first tangible response was a swift rally in the pound, putting pressure on the UK stock market.