Christopher Silvester

What the hell are you talking about? These 17 chemical elements, with names such as neodymium, dysprosium and europium, are used in the manufacture of objects ranging from lasers, aerospace components and nuclear batteries to camera lenses, energy-efficient light bulbs and self-cleaning ovens. Where do they come from? Today 95 per cent of the world’s supply comes from China. Deposits are dwindling fast and unless new sources are discovered, global demand will drastically exceed supply. California used to produce a fair amount, but closed its Mountain Pass mine because the Chinese undercut prices. Production has resumed there, but the Chinese still call the shots. Why haven’t I heard of anyone investing in rare earth metals before?

Madoff: The Man Who Stole $65 Billion Erin Arvedlund Penguin £9.99, 320 pages ISBN 9780141045467 ✆ £7.99 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 Madoff’s Other Secret: Love, Money, Bernie, and Me Sheryl Weinstein St Martin’s Press £14.56, 224 pages ISBN 9780312618377 Madoff with the Money Jerry Oppenheimer Wiley & Sons £16.99, 272 pages ISBN 9780470504987 ✆ £13.59 The Believers: How America Fell for Bernard Madoff’s $65 Billion Investment Scam Adam LeBor Weidenfeld & Nicolson £18.99, 312 pages ISBN 9780297859192 ✆ £15.

Christopher Silvester says you don’t have to be rich to invest in fine wine, and the rewards can be handsome Wine as an investment asset class intimidates most people, who mistakenly assume it is a rich man’s game when in actuality it is open to anyone who is prepared to commit a few thousand quid and wait for a few years. In the distant past the only game in town was to buy through wine merchants, but in the last quarter of a century a new breed of wine investment company has emerged. These are much the same as advisory stockbrokers, in that they choose a portfolio for you and trade it on your behalf. In the last ten years a handful of wine investment funds, operating on a similar basis to long-only equity funds, has joined the party.

I shall call him the Unknown Afghan Hero. The BBC footage of the assassination attempt on Hamid Karzai showed a civilian greeting the Afghan president through the window of his limousine. Suddenly, several shots rung out and this civilian, reacting instantaneously, swung round and hurled himself upon the would-be assassin, as did another man, before all three were killed in a hail of American friendly fire. It was a dramatic moment recorded on videotape and beamed into our sitting-rooms, yet so much of the press got it wrong. Reuters reports mentioned that 'both Karzai's attacker and an Afghan bodyguard died in the shootout', though not the civilian hero.