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It's fair to say that a company which takes £1 of every £8 spent on Britain's high streets is a bona fide giant. The boss Sir Terry Leahy is not known for getting decisions wrong very often - and tricky times call for decisive people.

Has ITV got the X-factor? Shuffling the news about, even bringing back the great Sir Trevor McDonald to try and bring more eyeballs in. Michael Grade is not know for his association with failure so it could be a good time to look at the shares.

We're running on fumes here folks and going for the low-hanging fruits before we pitch for the big one! C'mon. There's a great deal more to the WPP group than jargon. And we all know what happens to advertising in recession. Or do we...

There's an extra dynamic about investing in companies that run around on Britain's creaking transport infrastructure. If you've paid a fortune for a ticket and you can't get a seat - at least you know the shares are doing all right.

URU and ID3 are not, as you may imagine, characters from Star Wars or Dr Who. They are nifty little bits of technology which allow companies to know exactly who and where customers are.

You know when you pull over and you have to part with most of the GDP of small country for a tank of petrol. BP have had a pretty rough time of it too, but sooner or later all that gas cash is going to flow into the share price. We hope.

Apparently it used to be called Global Warming but now all the environmental types are calling it Climate Change. So if and when the world does warm up a bit, Crystalox Solar investors can bask in their own brilliance...

Commercial property is currently about as popular with investors as a tramp on a crowded tube train. In something of a Bonfire of the Vanities it has gone from hero to split capital zero... oh sorry that was another investment collapse.

Break out the tie-dyed T-shirts and the sandals. Light a couple of joss sticks, sit back and meditate on those heady days of 1967. If you'd have followed the career of recording industry genius Chris Wright, you'd have made a bunch.

Regardless of economic conditions the firm reckons enthusiasts will continue to fork out for a perfect replica of a 1962 Franco Railways Shunter locomotive. If they can keep up with roaring demand, all the world could be a train set.

The price of gold has gone through more record highs in recent months than Amy Winehouse in a Camden pub lavatory. We think there's no reason why it shouldn't continue. After all, it's all so pretty.

Investors seem to love this story of clever engineering - and we love being silly. It involves gizmos which connect a ride-on mower, big old tractors and Formula 1 racing cars. No, really...

Given the date, we had a good look around for a company we could iBall which was loving and sexy and a sweet investment. But all we could come up with was Thorntons. Just kidding.

Everyone is looking for a nice save haven in these dark and turbulent times. And what could be safer than a pharmaceutical giant. Perhaps one traditionally safe share has been oversold in recent times and might be looking good for a morsel of money.

Sooner or later the bony fellow in the shaggy cloak and the lidless eyes will emerge from the gloom and harvest our pathetic souls. You can't cheat death, but the good news is you don't have to be an arms dealer to profit from it.

Bombs and bankruptcy are nasty but they don't strike fear into hearts. But if you really want to grab the attention use the words 'germ' and 'disease'. Then sit around feeling terribly smug because you've invested in a biochemical supermarket...

That's the thing about fashion. One minute you're all the rage and the next, you're history. Investing is no different. And as we all know; what goes up, must come down.

It seems in the era of the Blackberry and iPhone no-one really wants to any more, or maybe we're just too busy. Or maybe, we're all finally taking the collective advice of our grandmothers and not believing a word we read in the papers.

Eeeeek! Credit crunch. US recession. Tanking markets, collapsing bank, carnage, chaos and mayhem everywhere. There's got to be somewhere left respectable to put your money even if some French trick motorcyclist hasn't flushed it all away.

Who would have thought the humble sausage roll could do so much for bringing society together? The pastry has done more for us than we think. Not only is it delicious which means rather bad for us, but it's also good value for investors. Apparently.

British Energy, which owns eight nuclear power stations in the UK, is in the van of a new wave of popularity for nuclear power. But who owns what, who pays for what and who might own what if and when it's been paid for is all a little less clear.

Mobile phones are big business. Very big business. Indeed, there are more mobile phones in the UK than people. So next time you are annoyed by hearing one end of someone's conversation, sit back and think of your portfolio...

We all know you can jinx stuff. Saying: "The traffic is good" or "Nice weather" is an invitation to being stuck in traffic in a sudden monsoon. Same thing when you make jokes about the name of your own company, sooner or later it will haunt you.

Sport of Kings it may be, but when a day at the races comes around it's chavs who keep the tills ringing. And Arena Leisure seems well placed to capitalise on the great British insititution of horse racing.

A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, according to the legend of Mary Poppins. But if the medicine is the share price of a FTSE 100 company the size of a small galaxy, then how big is the sweetener? Huge, that’s how big.

There are some famous defensive stocks when times are rocky. Food is one, because whatever the underlying economic conditions, you've got to eat. So in bad times people are stuffing themselves with pizza... Like Domino's

Oh a life on the Ocean wave, with a game of bridge and fitness class, te-tum-te-tum. Lovely. The spectre of recession doesn't matter to Carnival really since most of their customers are already retired. How's that for a hedge?

Some things that change the world are just tiny. I mean, have you ever seen an electron? So the Next Big Thing could actually be very small indeed. Let's introduce you to Meldex then - one of the most exciting investment prospects out there.

We know what a big story energy is, and we know it's a great big eco-fuelled bandwagon. One of the greatest political thinkers (not!) of the Noughties was in charge of policy on alternative energies. So how can you go wrong?

We know what a big story energy is, and we know it's a great big eco-fuelled bandwagon. One of the greatest political thinkers (not!) of the Noughties was in charge of policy on alternative energies. So how can you go wrong?

Everyone knows Halfords. Where else do you go when you want to touch up a rust-spot or buy a new windscreen wiper. Not only does it have no competition, but there's much more to this High Street favourite than meets the eye. Oh yes.

You thought it had all gone away didn't you? For 150 years coal was what kept us all alight and weren't we reminded of it on a regular basis. But wouldn't you know it, Old King Coal - long ago privatised - is making a comeback.

The music bizz is much in the news recently, what with stars galore walking out on their record companies. It's an industry in crisis apparently. Sooner or later though, something new crops up which saves the day. Just ask HMV.

You would have to have bought a Premiership football club in cash before you can afford one of Theo Fennell's rings, let alone a bejewelled skull. Then again, it is high art you know, not just mere baubles for the super rich.

Rolls Royce... Smooth, powerful and bold, just like the British who invented it. But the Spirit of Ecstasy can still spread her wings for investors as the last remaining British bit of the business looks set to give a smooth ride over rough times.

Stagecoach has developed from a tinpot brother-and-sister firm into a multi-national corporation. It's not pretty. In fact, it's uglier than a box of smashed oysters, but it certainly works and it seems to be behind the wheel of the eco bandwagon.

You would have to have bought a Premiership football club in cash before you can afford one of Theo Fennell's rings. Then again, it is high art you know, not just mere baubles for the super rich. So here's a way you can get in on the action.

It seems appropriate to us that we should crack off 2008 with what was without doubt the investor story of 2007. Some might think Sports Direct was the most disastrous flotation since the Titanic slipped its moorings. Possibly, but for whom?

An Englishman's home is his castle, so the saying goes, but really an Englishman's home is his obsession with its value Persimmon is named after a pear. As one of the UK's biggest housebuilders is everything peachy or is it a basket of rotten fruit?

The great bastion of 1980s floral chic has grown out of its clothes. The question for investors is: “Will it find itself climbing the FTSE as much as watching Trinny and Susannah makes us climb the walls?”

Who said investing was a glamourous business, hmm? Well, sometimes you've just got to roll up your sleeves and get down and dirty. And they don't come much dirtier than waste management giant Biffa. Where there's muck there's brass, after all.

Dean Martin once famously said: "You’re not drunk if you can lie on the floor without holding on." Some may say that about Scottish & Newcastle. One minute it’s all "You’re my besht mate you are" and the next it’s inviting the world to step outside.

Virgin Active used to be called Holmes Place, the choice of exercise venue for the well heeled and image-conscious urbanite.But since everyone's favourite image-conscious entrepreneur scooped up the chain there's been talk of flotation...

Cussons doesn’t just make soap. It makes awful advertising as well. Imperial Leather is the bathroom legend that Brits know and love but there’s much more to the company than that.