2473 days ago
Lucian Miers advised shorting UK Oil & Gas (UKOG) and went short himself at c3.1p, boasting that twice before he had made a packet on the short tack with this perennial darling of the educationally sub-normal wing of the provisional private investor army. The shares are now 4.65p and the Bulletin Boards and the comments section on this website are full of posts by folks laughing at my old friend, the Bard of the Boleyn. So has East London's most feared short seller lost his marbles as well as a vast amount of dosh?
3548 days ago
On a financial level I have always been bearish on Gulf Keystone (GKP) long arguing that the shares were really only worth 30-50p – something that has not endeared me to the Bulletin Board Morons. Well I guess I was right. But what has changed to make this an outright slam dunk short sell? Answer: ISIS.
Incidentally HERE is my first red flag piece on Gulf from April 2013 with me saying sell at 154p and I have consistently argued that fundamental value was 30-50p. I would now target the bottom of that range or less.
Without doubt these Islamofascists are truly the most repellent force on this planet. Opponents or those who are not the right sort of muslim are beheaded, crucified or shot. Even children are beheaded. Although I see that in the Guardian that the ISIS flag is now also flying in Poplar East London alongside the Palestinian flag, it is in Syria and Iraq where the headway is being made.
Peering at my maps today
4044 days ago
I managed to get the DVD to work and sat down with a bottle of wine to watch this much derided Ray Winstone film. West Londoners have become East Londoners (how predictable). The Sweeney is enmeshed in battles with internal compliance at all points. That sounds plausible. The robberies and purported crimes were not plausible. The story line was not great. As for the action and sex: Mr Winstone’s stomach and him giving chase in a small four door family car really did not cut the mustard.
Assisted by three quarters of a bottle of wine I sat through to the end but I am sorry to say that the derision was fair. As someone who loves playing old Sweeney DVDs I give this 3 out of ten. Had I been stone cold sober I doubt that I would have been that charitable.
4131 days ago
Lucian Miers often finds himself overshadowed by the larger than life figure that is Evil Knievil (Simon Cawkwell). The two men sometimes share ideas and bear raids but on other occasions they disagree. They are very much their “own men.” I sense that perhaps because of his casual and light hearted approach to life, folks underestimate Lucian. That is a mistake.
Known as East London’s most feared short seller, Lucian is about as much of a cockney as myself or Prince Charles. His family used to own rather large amounts of real estate in the area around Upton Park and hence “the Bard of the Boleyn” is a devoted West Ham supporter. But he is (like Cawkwell) quite a posh public school educated fellow. And like Cawkwell he did not quite make it passed the final interview when it came to applying to Oxford. That is not to say that Lucian is not very clever, just that he is perhaps not a true academic.
The highlight of Miers career as a stockbroker was his short selling of Pan Andean Resources as the world and his wife bought the stock on the back of hopes (and puff pieces in the Daily Mail) for South American drilling success, Miers took the trouble to call the site of the well on the phone to be told that it was dry and that the directors were at that stage flying back to Ireland.
4131 days ago
Yossi Benayoun has not flourished in his second spell at Upton Park and so has returned to a career sitting on the bench at Chelski. I wish him well but in terms of who is coming back to Upton Park I could not be happier, it is Joe Cole, a midfielder who can run with the ball, pass and who will add both skill and also attractive play to the side. We now have genuine options in the middle of the park.
I remember a bloke who sold flowers outside Finchley Road tube station telling me about his nephew who was a 15 year old at the Academy and who would be better than Rio, Fat Frank and the others of that era. That was Joe Cole. Unlike the others Cole was not keen to leave Upton Park in the years we struggled. And this week he could have gone to rejoin ‘arry at QPR but instead came home. Of course that is largely as Redknapp himself admitted – because Rangers will, notwithstanding the Chelski result, almost certainly still go down in May.
But Cole has always been liked by the supporters. And he clearly regards West Ham as his home club – we must hope that he plays out his career in East London. In signing him, the board shows that it has ambition. This does not change my view that Fat Sam Allardyce needs to go in May and di Canio also needs to come home as manger. But it means that the next few months should not be quite as grisly as I had feared.
