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So much has gone on in the fiscal universe in 2009, and in the middle, as always, is us. As election fever begins to tighten its grip on Britain’s collective psyche – we can resist no longer. It is time to get political.

Stem cell research has been controversial in some conservative quarters but the benefits to medicine are beyond doubt. Not surprisingly then, it takes a Dutch company to embrace both camps and look to the future....

Vodafone has been a favourite of private investors since Alexander Graham Bell first sprouted bum fluff. Although, the business is going to have to change as fast as it conceivably can. Otherwise there's a convoy of stocks that will be right behind it..

Like many an oil exploration share these days Gulf Keystone came out of nowhere to be traded like dead grouse on August 13th. So we thought at iBall TV we would have a look at it. After all, with a name like Gulf Keystone, how could we resist?...

Tullow Oil has always been an enigmatic company. It is an oil company and it is from Ireland – not exactly what the country is famous for. It has grown in little more than 20 years from a family-owned engineering firm to FTSE100 giant.

Pages once ruled its own domain like a dinosaur in a fern forest. Well , it was the domain really. But times have changed and so has the big yellow book that used to contain every number we could think of and some we couldn't.

Melrose is a company full of lovely consultants who go into shabby, forgotten old monoliths of engineering and spread a little magic around. So iBall summoned its very own makeover marvel and we cast our eyes over what could be a super-duper bargain.

The docks of Tilbury are not normally a place associated with great glamour, film stars and so on. But is it? Slightly bizarrely, it's owned by some nice Scottish people called Forth Ports. They also make some money out it. So perhaps it is a place you can park some investment cash - kind of go Forth and multiply, ahem.

Advertising is not something you would expect us to be tipping in a time of economic global meltdown. But then again you are not Martin Sorrell are you and neither are we. He is not just an advertising guru - he is also a 'suit'.

This is a share, even among miners, which is beloved of investors right now. In fact, it's so cheap you could almost by the whole thing by having a whip-round, har har.

Precious metals, well any metals actually, seem to be having a very bullish year. It therefore makes sense that there is a company out there somewhere benefiting from all this. Well here's one, we think. Platinum is a girl's best friend apparently...

We love it, you love it, it's big and it's British and last week it found oil in foreign shores. So here is our affectionate tribute to the Gulf of Mexico...

Pinewood Shepperton used to be a quite British bit of the world. Now it isn't. It's a global giant of the even more giant film industry.

Recession, downturn, economic misery. Perfect for an episode of EastEnders. Shaftesbury, a commercial property company that we think is worth a little optimistic outlook. Here's our premier of the new, cheerful, prime time soap opera - WestEnders.

The company that likes to brand itself as the world's local bank. It's huge, but, I hear you say, it's a bank. Absolutely, but it is a bank which has not received a bung from public coffers and appears to have recovered fast. But is it value?

The death of cinema has been predicted many times in the last 30 years, but from video to Blu-ray it seems to thrive. It just goes to prove there is nothing quite like a night out at the pictures. It may not be a bad place for your cash either.

Cor, what a whopper! The bank I mean. The company that likes to brand itself as the world's local bank. It's huge and, just like the oceans, it seems to cover about two-thirds of the globe. But, is it value?

ICAP is one of the UK's largest, most sucessful and wealthiest companies. Revenue comes pouring in like few other companies before them. Or ever, really. But one big question hovers over this powerhouse of the City of London. What does it do exactly?

Well this share is more than just a campfire tale. All right you might not want to take it anywhere near a campfire. But for a nine-year-old exploration company it is cash positive, which is rare and in these clean green times it looks like a decent bet. Methane is bad, because it rots the atmosphere, clean electricity is good, so why not put them together?

It’s funny how circumstances can change and bring about a whole new investing universe. I mean there’s this good solid company famous for making soap and cleaning products as well as a hand-cleaning waterless gel called Carex. Along comes Swine Flu, a nice little bit of public panic, and then the shares look even better.

It is a tiny little energy company and it is named after an Edward Hopper painting of 1942. This was an auspicious year. Casablanca was filmed in 1942. So for this extremely tenuous reason we thought the best thing to do would be to remake the great noir classic. Here's looking at your portfolio kid...

They are famous mostly for being the site of a conflict back in 1982. That, and penguins. That was a long time ago and the presence in the Falkland Islands of a British garrison has helped the local economy to boom. Well, that and oil...

Next has been tipped for the chop so many times us investors have almost forgotten all about it as a great survivor. So in a retail desert maybe there is a little bit by way of an oasis in this electronic shopping mall...

Question: What is black, brown and looks nice on an estate agent? Answer: A Rottweiler. We think even at this sticky end of the property stick there is value in quality estate agents. And the most diversified of these shares we feel is Savills. Woof!

The Russians are coming! Da, tovaritsch. You cannot talk about oil or mining these days without thinking about the Great Bear. So there we were, taking about oil and mining shares and such a funny thing should happen we began to talk about Russia.

Oh for the glory days of ITV. World of Sport... Blind date... hmm. How did it get into so much trouble and how did it end up practically a penny share. Well, there's lots of reasons, and a couple of them maybe called Ant & Dec. No, seriously.

Horse racing is bad, said Jeffrey Bernard, because there is a line of 'Bet' windows and only one that says 'Pay'. Answer: Buy the shares. Their world has changed, and so has William Hill's. Has the company adapted to the changing times? You bet...

Dignity is a great idea. What could possibly better than the wholesale management of death. There is nothing more predictable – except perhaps the result of a Eurovision Song Contest – than death.

BA is beloved of investors but, excepting the crunch, it has had a turbulent ride in the last couple of years. So let us take you back to time, a time where the streets were dark and mysterious places....

Technology, whether you like it or not, has changed the entire shape of the world in which we live. And those mastodons that rule the world from across the Pond - well, what can we say about them? Love em? or hate em?

Commercial property! Ha! There we said it. OK, so it has taken a major dive in the last couple of years. If the sector is to make a recovery with inflation looming and the retailers booming, British Land is the big one...

When we did Majestic more than a year ago it left a deep, rich chocolatey taste on the palate. It's had an interesting journey since then. But we still reckon there is plenty of life left in the share yet. Well if there isn't, let's just get smashed.

There is a certain amusing irony in TUI. Given the notorious rivalry between German and British holidaymakers over the sunbeds around the world, and all. To find an Anglo-German holiday company listed in the FTSE100, how could we resist?

BT is a giant. It has been beloved of investors since it was the first share to be privatised. Rampant cost-cutting may have helped prune the tree but what is needed to get the divi back may be a bit more drastic.

Sports Direct International has featured heavily in the world of shareholders in the last year or two. A horrid flotation saw the share price dump to about 40p from 280p when everyone else was making a fortune. But, in a delightful bit of contrariness, when everyone else is going down, SPD shares are flying...

Centrica is one of those made up names for a company which charges a fortune to build you an image out of nothing. And it makes a fortune, so it could be a good one to turn up the heat on your portfolio.

Cable & Wireless has more faces than a master of disguise and works in more countries than James Bond. And the telecoms industry takes alot of unravelling sometimes, but at the end of the investing day, this monster is well worth pressing some buttons on.

It's spring and the Buffalo migrate across the sweeping plains of the savannah. It's plump flesh is desired by investors who have wintered on nothing more than berries. That beast is AMEC - an Amercian giant which grazes in the middle of the FTSE 100.

We all know that in times like these some retailers go to the wall while others are a part of the process of building new ones. Home Retail Group has answers for both. Argos, one of the nation's favourite stores, and Homebase - a DIY mecca.

Obviously with the banking crisis going on, there has to be a few winners, when the dust settles and all. Yep. Barclays. The share price is flying so as I used to say to Mother... Are you sitting comfortably?

Where there's a job there is a title, so the motto should be, and in this case we certainly have some oddball sounding names. So let's investigate the wacky, but potentially profitable world of Reed Elsevier...

When it comes to choosing your portfoilio's assets, there could be worse bets than putting insurance shares in it, asset management ones obviously. Old Mutual has been around so long it is bound to be all right, don't you think?

Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink. Not according to United Utilities, the modern water company with the 1950s name. Given it has more than 25,000 miles of pipes and about the same in sewers, it is a very big business indeed. Drink, anyone?

Shell. Oil prices. What can you say? Is it Dutch, is it British? Who cares. It is massive. You simply cannot run an investment show without paying great attention to the edifice that is Shell. So here we are, paying attention to Shell. Go on, please....

See, in a classic case of City natural selection, where one company has fallen away - in this case Dawson Holdings – another steps up to the plate. So when the time comes to set your sights and seek the best value you can, Smith’s News could be the one.

A housebuilder. And not just any ordinary housebuilder but one which has built homes for some very important people. It's called Taylor Wimpey, and though it might sound peculiar saying we like a housebuilder in times like these, we do. So there.

Those mean streets breed mean people and mean markets, and when that happens there's a time for a new avenger. Troubled times need tough solutions and so, ladies and gentlemen, we introduce you to... Dirty Ali

Capita some dull and unpopular jobs which may not make it the taxpayers' best friend but these jobs do tend to make it a friend to investors. So - big and lacking in anything spectacular. Perfect for making it a friend to your portfolio.

Lloyds may have escaped the very worst of the credit crunch but there's still been a lot of very bad news from the group with the black horse. If it's put some of that trail behind it the shares themselves could be a bit of a steal. Hah-harrr!

Standard Life has became one of retail investors' favourite shares. And good news for investors. Even in these troubled times those quaint old Scottish disciplines have seen the old girl do very well.