I answer this question as best I can as there has been internet commentary suggesting that it is. After Supply@ME Capital (SYME), I look at another POS, Bidstack (BIDS) and a third in TrakM8 (TRAK). Then it is onto Union Jack Oil (UJO), Reabold (RBD) and Concepta (CPT) where – do not laugh – I am really very excited.

Shares in graphene-based products company Directa Plus (DCTA) are currently at 88.5p, more than 40% higher, on it announcing what it argues “represents the opening of a new, high potential vertical market that could use large amounts of our products”. Is the share price response really justified though?…

Cineworld (CINE) is drowning in more than $8 billion of net debt. Its net assets at the half year were just $1.2 billion and if you strip out intangibles that number falls to MINUS $4.3 billion. With cinemas around the world either shuttered or likely to reopen to much smaller audiences, what to do? Yup…take on more debt.

Today, from AstraZeneca (AZN) and the City of lost causes, we have news on a third vaccine against Covid-19. There will soon be a fourth and a fifth and at some stage lots of folks will ignore concerns about potential long term side effects to get vaccinated against a disease which kills 0.05% of those under 70 who catch it. And a bedwetting world can breathe a sigh of relief and, even idiots like Matt Hancock, will realise that we will not need mass testing and we can get on with our lives.

We have more good news this morning from AIM-listed Turkish gold-miner Ariana Resources (AAU) in the form of the Q3 numbers from the Kiziltepe joint venture. The Gold price may still be in a correction, but Ariana’s shares are showing some strength and it is not hard to see why.

Previously writing on castings and engineering company Chamberlin (CMH), in February with the shares at 24p I noted financials & Premier Miton concerns. Today a “Trading Update”… and the shares at 9.5p, a further more than 15% lower on the back of it…

The Times newspaper today flags up a series of tweets which, almost certainly, break AIM Rules and relate to Remote Monitoring Systems (RMS), a company rapidly becoming the poster boy for the AIM Cesspit. They are not the hanging offence but there is a hanging offence out there…

Brett Heath runs, Metalla, a precious metals streaming company so he is talking his own book here. Heck, don’t we all?

Hello Share Tackers. As my more talented colleague Chris Bailey sometimes says: companies doing boring things should not be excluded from our bargain hunts. They are often more successful than firms which do exciting stuff. Volex (VLX) is a company that makes wire. Prosaic, don’t you think?…

Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses. He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.  Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! Psalm 107 verses 19-21, King James Version, natch.

I start with Christmas presents. Today I started to panic and will really pull my finger out tomorrow. Then onto news that the administrators of Patisserie Holdings (CAKE) chaired by my pal lucky Luke Johnson is to sue auditors Grant Thornton over the fraudulent accounts it sign off on. This might see Lucky getting a windfall, or rather a bit of his cash back. I discuss the whole affair 

Libertarian speculator and author Doug Casey says it’s difficult today to be an investor with all the government economic distortion and mis-allocation of capital. However, in contrast a speculator can do well in this environment. He says, “Being a speculator should not be confused with being a trader.”

Here are five long reads that have nothing to do with shares. Put the kettle on, find a comfy chair. You have the time, don’t you? 

Yes it is different this time

These days I generally tend to avoid taking risks on oil exploration drills, but on occasions I still can’t resist taking a position, of a size that reflects that risk, and when the drill looks particularly interesting.

Welcome to the Sunday ShareProphets Pub Quiz. Find your own beer, sit in the most comfortable seat, and, under no circumstances, can you Google the answer. Only I can do that. There are no prizes but post your scores in the comments for bouquets and brickbats.

The most read non-Tom article this week is Gold – vaccine No.2 offers just a temporary minor crunch by Nigel Somerville (for an unheard of sixth week in a row) at a thirsty number three or at number six, including Bearcasts and Tom’s new shareshow.

I start with the therapy my woodshed offers and also a note on Chris Bailey. Then I look at Powerhouse Energy (PHE) and Remote Monitoring Systems (RMS) before considering bitcoin and gold and why I personally have big exposure to the “barbarous relic” and no exposure to crypto.

I was very disappointed and rather surprised to read Fridays RNS that advised Dave Ryan (a fellow Chartered Engineer) was stepping down from the CEO role at Powerhouse Energy (PHE) but was intrigued by the focus on engineering project work, while ditching the corporate side to sleazy Tim Yeo, as Tom Winnifrith commented on earlier. When I come across something like this is makes me wonder if the signs were there and I missed them so I read some back history. What I found I do not like at all, in fact in my book it stinks.

At 6.22pm on Friday – no-one-is-watching o’clock – AIM-listed Immunodiagnostic Systems (IDH) released its Interim results to the end of September. Getting the numbers out in November seems a decent enough effort, but why on Friday night when everybody has gone home for the weekend? My first thought was to wonder what they are hiding……