Goslings Grouse

I have got to say I could not give a flake who owns Cadbury.

So if Wayne Rooney is worth more than the boss of Goldman Sachs, and don't forget he reckoned Goldman's are doing God's work, then how much is Neil Woodford worth?

It is that time of year when we all seemed to spend a lot of time predicting - or more likely - guessing what are going to be the top-performing asset classes during the year next 10 years.

It would be great to think because we have started not only a new year, but a new decade, that life would be rosy. It is not.

As it is the end of the year, I have been sorting out a lot of old bits of paper and came across an article in a consumer magazine Investors Week, which I edited at the beginning of the decade.

So is it now more tax efficient to invest in a game of bingo than make a pension contribution or start an Isa?

I can take no credit for the following analogy - it is all the original work of one of the smartest sales and marketing directors in the asset management industry.

To float or not to float - that is the question.

Of course, last week's Queen's Speech was an electioneering one and you cannot blame old Gordon for having a go. It is always better to get HRH to deliver your ideas in person when you have such dodgy handwriting and spelling!

It was very kind of the Government to make the announcement a few weeks ago that it was going to allow product placement on television - not on the BBC of course, because God forbid the Beeb should not be seen as being impartial.