Ah - summertime, eh? No, just "summer time" - adding an hour to the wristwatch is a tad easier than adding it to the body clock - at least in the Williams case! I'm with Beau Brummel on that one - seemingly he liked the day to be "well aired" before venturing forth. Anyway, now that I'm vaguely awake, let's start this weekend's ramblings with a quote from Sir David King, the recently retired UK government Chief Scientist, speaking about biofuels (type 'biofuels' into the WICS search engine for more on the scam) - "What is desperately needed within government are people of integrity who will state what the science advice is, whatever the political pressure or circumstances." How utterly true - and how unlikely ever to happen. Biofuels just SOUND so "green" and most people like the idea, without having considered the bigger picture - as ever. And the multinationals that are set to profit undoubtedly are the true controllers of the agenda - as with BAE in a different field. It was interesting to note that the OECD plans a major investigation into bribery and corruption within the UK government - seemingly a major overhaul of the law was agreed just over ten years ago but for some reason nothing so far has been done. I guess maybe the timing back then wouldn't have quite suited one Tony Blair?

On a broadly (totally?) similar tack, it seems Mr Applegarth and his buddies from Northern Crock are not to be investigated over their role in its collapse. The FSA is taking all the blame, Adam gets to keep the dosh from his big share sale just before the whole mess hit the street - oh, and he's also likely to get a payoff in the region of £750000, not to mention a pension nudging £200000 a year once he reaches 55. Not bad going. Sure, the FSA failed to pick up on the nonsensical business plan, but who was it that created that plan in the first place? Without any notion that it might have been a tad risky? Do me a favour! Anyway, some of the soon to be ex - employees of the Wreck might care to apply for jobs at the FSA. Seemingly they are going to be doing a lot of hiring of extra people to train in the art of shutting stable doors. Over in the USA, it's not the regulators that are (yet) getting the blame for investor losses - as mentioned in an earlier edition of these ramblings, banks are busily suing each other and the legal profession is doing just fine, as ever. I note too that in the matter of the collapse of New Century (a biggish US mortgage company) a class action lawsuit is being put together, blaming KPMG (a huge international accountancy practice with over 120000 staff) for "failing in its duty as auditor". Hmm - remember what happened to Arthur Andersen (try Google if you don't know) not that long ago? Very scary! And, still banging on about Northern Wreck, you do rather have to ask what, if anything, ITS auditors had been doing. On a similar note, J P Morgan's revised bid for Bear Stearns is designed to try to appease shareholders thereof - I wonder who will bid for JPM in due course? Gosh - surely THEY are safe enough...aren't they.......?

That was a great double bluff by HBoS directors just before they got their bonus cheques eh? Don't play poker with these guys! (See last weekend's WICS for the reference.)

Moving along, Tata has finalised the purchase of Jaguar and Land Rover, as mentioned here a few months ago. According to the head of Tata, expressing his delight at having closed the deal, "There is no reason to tinker with the brands. Our job is to make them grow." A word in your ear, Mr Tata - how about "make them reliable" or especially in the case of Land Rover, "make them rust a bit less quickly"? No disrespect to Tata, but it's hardly a role model for top quality manufacturing, so I guess Jag & LR will feel right at home. Changed days indeed.

And I see that Little Chef is to be "saved" by Heston Blumenthal. Hmm, bacon ice cream for breakfast, anyone? You don't really need the services of Mr B, folks - just get any French motorway services franchisee on the case. THEY know how to produce excellent food and great coffee, and with a decent convenience shop, all at very reasonable prices, not to mention the spotless toilet facilities.

Speaking of French, it was amusing to see the Oily One meet the Grumpy One during the week (Sarko and Gordy, in case you live on a different planet.) It's just great to discover that Sarko has always loved the UK so much and that Gordy has so much respect for Europe, and especially for France. The two countries are getting married, it seems, and gifts are being exchanged. France gets massive UK nuclear power contracts, and Britain gets.........to pay for them. Oh yes, and presumably arms will come into this somewhere, and not as in "arms hugging each other" either. Presumably "les frogs" will sell to one side, and "les rosbifs" to the other, in whatever conflagration happens along, and then divvy up the proceeds. That's until divorce time of course - which will come along when the Oily One reneges on his promise to facilitate reform of the Common Agricultural Policy. Ho ho.

Oh yes, and poor Gordy got lost at the banquet, which did his temper no good at all.

Speaking of "lost" - British Airways is certainly living up to its longstanding reputation for "Breakfast in London, lunch in New York, dinner in Honolulu, luggage in Bangkok." This time however, they actually know where the luggage is located - they just can't quite lay their hands on it......

Next, before we discuss a chart or two, it seems a new service has been set up in Florida - the "Foreclosure Express". I was about to say "Only in America" but then I remembered the Irish and Ryanair charter flights to Berlin ....Anyway, in Miami there is now a six hour coach tour that takes you round a load of foreclosed properties. Janice, an estate agent, explains: "It's really a rolling classroom with realtors, a lawyer, a property appraiser and a mortgage broker aboard with the buyers and investors." A "classroom" eh? I wonder what the lesson might be then? Maybe "How to separate patsies from their cash"? Anyway, it costs $45 so I expect they throw in a house with the ticket.

OK, let's move on to a chart or two. First there's Restaurant Group. It was brought to my attention by a newish subscriber - thanks Adrian. Adrian does his own research and really trawls through the charts. He has read the manual several times, and it's pretty clear that he will succeed, because he is willing to put in the necessary work and do the necessary thinking. Hopefully that applies to YOU too......Anyway, Restaurant Group is showing some nice horizontal support and resistance areas, and director deals are looking interesting too. (By the way, if you see a fair number of director SELLS at present, remember these might be caused by Wee Allie's assault on the Capital Gains Tax [CGT] rules and not necessarily by lack of confidence in the business plan - or the need to fund a divorce or whatever.) Next we'll examine a couple of triangles on the Ted Baker chart, and finally we'll see if the trend has changed yet on the chart of Galliford Try.

And that's that for this weekend - grumpy or not from the early start this morning, there's an "end of season" fancy dress shindig this afternoon and evening at a local smallish ski resort where we've had season tickets - so attendance is compulsory. The insistence by a few of the lift operators that Williams compete in this afternoon's "veterans" race wearing his kilt will however be resisted.....(The bigger places don't close till between 28th April and 4th May by the way, so there will still be plenty days left for skiing!) Just don't expect an early start answering emails tomorrow - not that any alcoholic beverage will touch my lips you understand. It will just go straight down my throat.....

Best wishes then, and happy trading till next weekend.

Ian

'IMPORTANT NOTICE: These WICS charts are for EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. They represent only MY understanding of what is happening in the market for any particular share, stock, commodity or index. In NO circumstances should they be construed as recommendations to trade. If I choose to trade what I see, that is MY decision. YOU must, in turn, come to YOUR OWN conclusions about what action, if any, YOU might choose to take'.