When Philip Harris, now Lord / Baron Harris of Peckham, set up his first Carpetright on the Manor road, Canning town in 1988 he can’t have imagined it would all come to this.

OK, this is very much a “work-in-progress”, but here’s a selection of some of the stocks we’ve been looking at lately. All three are UK based and UK listed. But each of them has an ‘international flavour’ — just what you need in your portfolio right now!

Bowing to peer pressure from Eurocentric readers, today’s comment focuses squarely on opportunities in European indexes, or should that be ‘bourses.’

Nobody rings a bell at the bottom of the market and it is a fool’s game to gamble on where the peaks and troughs are going to be, so we don’t.

It’s a good day to be a Spencer. Retail giant Marks & Spencer reported £1 billion profits for the first time since 1998. And, Michael Spencer should surge a few places up the Sunday Times Rich List as his inter-dealer broker ICAP reported massive profits this morning.