Genius

Interesting piece by John Authers (The Long View - Financial Times 14th April) on investing genius or genius alone. He mentions a book by Michael J. Gelb in which the seven principles of genius are set out (in Italian): Curiositá, Dimostrazione, Sensazione, Sfumato, Arte/scienza, Corporalitá, Connessione.

In brief the genius investor should be a Renaissance man infused with all these qualities.

What a pity our financial leaders and our leaders in general do not demonstrate these traits in their dealings. What a pity we do not all aspire to this roundedness in our own lives.

Grape futures (2)

This photo shows the vine flowers beginning to develop and swell.

The caplets, which will fall off to reveal the flower, when the time comes, can just be made out.

Wine growers will be hoping for calm and warm weather conditions during flowering. Late frost, rain and wind can all compromise the chances of a good harvest by preventing pollination.

Garden report

It has been a while since I posted on the state of the allotment so here are a few photos.

If you know what to look for you can see overwintering broad beans, garlic and onions; recently divided globe artichokes towards the far end, asparagus sown from seed last year emerging from winter slumber; the remainder of last year's leeks. Strawberry plants planted last year have been putting on some growth and are in flower.

Asparagus shoot from last year's sowing

You won't see, even though they are there, recently planted seed potatoes (5 different sorts) and Jerusalem artichokes; freshly sown carrots, beetroot, leeks, salads, fennel, turnips.

Seedling selection

Elsewhere,  in our sunspace at home, indoor-sown seeds have already germinated and are growing happily.

Now all we need is a little regular rain.

Blank screens

I much enjoyed Simon Kuper's recent article (Financial Times weekend magazine) on the influence of the computer and social media on calming everything down and avoiding revolutions. Far from the world being the powder keg portrayed by Paul Mason (of 'It's all kicking off' fame) the world is in fact kicking back and settling down in front of a screen instead, no doubt stuffing its face with junk food.

A good reason to turn them all off, at least once in a while, and do something to lift one's spirit - a walk in Nature, reading a decent book (a real book not an electronic one)...

Everyday Drinkers (3)

Another post about a wine to go with the weekday bowl of homemade soup. A discounted wine which was no doubt overpriced to begin with. It is currently available at £4.99 having been originally sold for nearly £10. It is great value at around a fiver.

I would not normally go for this sort of wine, bottled as it is near Lyon, miles from where it was produced - and who knows where it was produced, as it is a generic Côtes du Rhône Villages with no geographical information provided. But something about it tempted me, perhaps because it was 2010 and I had yet to taste any CDR from this vintage.

 At 13.5% ABV, tasting of red fruit with good acidity and some discreet tannin, this wine is perfect with food. It  is a good example of what the Rhône Valley does well, a well made, inexpensive wine for drinking with food. It bodes well for any Rhône wine of 2010 as it seems well balanced, with no rough edges to spoil the enjoyment.

Les Celliers de Beauregard bottles wines for Intermarché, the French supermarket group. As they appear to be based in the Vaucluse département, they are well placed to find Côtes du Rhône wines and have done well here.

Nuclear subs (2)

The recent news (BBC and elsewhere 29th March) that two large energy companies RWE npower and E.ON have withdrawn plans to build new nuclear power stations comes as no surprise. There is not enough money in it for private investors. The enormous risks involved are clearly putting them off.

The only organisation which can possibly undertake this type of very long term nuclear power investment is the state. No private company will ever make sufficient returns for it to be viable for them and they may not be in existence long enough either (some states appear to be a bit shaky too). They will wait until the government decides to make the initial investment and allow them to make the returns from the captive customer base of the energy consumer (similar pattern to the railways, water and even more favourable than the current privatised energy supply industry).

These companies can clearly see more profits and less risk in oil, gas and coal. I would expect that gas obtained via fracking will soon be the next big thing, as this country appear to have large reserves of it. The government appears to be intent on burning fossil fuels for as long as they are available and are offering £1bn to anyone who can come up with a viable carbon capture scheme (3rd April in case you were thinking April Fool)).

There is already a viable carbon capture scheme in existence: is it known as the Earth system, Gaia, Nature or whatever you care to call it. It has been doing this free of charge for billions of years, but we seem to be intent on destroying it.