When I declared that Mandelson had no reason to go to face a grilling by Congressmen I did not know that he had been selling confidential cabinet papers to Epstein. From here it looks certain that he can be jailed for this conduct. As Kwasi Kwarteng observed this morning Mandelson must be insane. Written by Simon Cawkwell, February 2026

I do not wish to be thought a perpetual defence entrant but as with AM-W Lord Mandelson is completely innocent. There is no evidence of improper conduct on his part. If Epstein elected to send him $75,000 why not? Bully for Mandelson. If he is prepared to stand around in his underpants why not? Written by Simon Cawkwell, February 2026

Overnight there has been a further torrent of suggestions of illegal behaviour on the part of AM-W. All this is prurient nonsense. There is no evidence offered whatsoever. Further, were I a lawyer advising him I would strongly recommend that he stay put in the UK. The mood in America is one of revenge. This is nothing to do with justice. I see that Starmer thinks AM-W should go to America. This is only because Starmer wants to curry favour with Americans. This is nothing to d

It is clearly the case that many graduates from university are emerging with massive indebtedness to HMG. This is silly since it may deter young people from studying at university. There are many ways to present possible relief ideas and programmes (and I welcome any views which readers may care to express) but something must be done such that the idiots who took HMG into the current mess are overridden.

BP Silver completes the first drill program on Cosuño with first results soon... Readers who are considering the BP Silver story may appreciate this interview with BPAG's CEO, Tim Shearcroft. I bought a further 100,000 at 86 cents last night. Written by Simon Cawkwell, January 2026

This is Starmer's latest effort to pick up votes. After all, there are many more who have to pay ground rent than expect to receive ground rent. The problem is that those who have been expected to pay are liable in terms of a contract into which they freely entered. So Starmer seeks to alleviate those who are obliged to pay by imposing a breach of contract. What a shabby and silly fellow he is. I read in today's Times that some entitlements to ground rent are essential to pa

I bought a further 60,000 BP Silver BPAG on TSXV at 65 cents yesterday. Of course it will be a while before the cash starts to pour in but, astonishingly, gold is up another $100+ this morning and silver is up a trifling $220. Bearing in mind that Americans have hardly any of their cash in gold or silver I reckon it is wise to bet on much more to come. For when the American retail investor gets going he really gets going.

Readers of ETS know full well that the newspapers are crammed with bullish comments on gold and silver. In other times one would take this as a classic warning to hold off from buying and, quite possibly, to lighten holdings. However, just for once I guess that this is a mistake. Hold on: there could be a real fever on the way and it would be a pity to miss out. Anyway, I am considering BP Silver (TSXV:BPAG) which is aspiring to develop a giant silver mine in Bolivia. It is c

To which I declare Thank God. Today's results statement is reassuring but engages in a euphemism in that the Nigerian investment is "fully impaired". The management should have advised that the investment has proved a total write off. But I still think that at 40p OMI remains cheap.

My father, George Cawkwell, was highly regarded as a tutor in fifties post war Oxford. However, he could be fairly abrasive if he reckoned that his pupil had not been attending sufficiently to the work in hand. For not all thus criticised took kindly to criticism. Anyway, my father was working away in his first floor study which overlooked the front of his house - it was set back twenty yards from the road - when his pupil elected to express his personal dislike of my father.

For some reason buyers of OMI are comforted by the rise in the gold price even though the benefit of such a price for OMI is years away. However, the drilling results have been quite extraordinarily good and it seems that this mine in Colombia will be financed. If so, the share price could easily double and more. This makes OMI a buy at up to 40p.

This morning's RNS shows all is well and means that LDG should be up at 20p or so. For those who take a long view this is a screaming buy.

Gervais Williams of Premier Miton was on the radio a few days ago forecasting a twenty year bull market in London. My immediate reaction was that he was selling fund management services and could therefore be forgiven. However, on reflection, I am not so sure.. I reckon we are overconcerned with the amazing bull market in America. This can ease off and the underlying enthusiasm of Britons to develop businesses is strongly apparent despite the lunatically silly government we i

One of life's great mysteries arises when one tries to identify what it is about the Beckham family that causes its members constantly to pop up in every day's edition of the Daily Mail. I suppose that the editor has an entire office dedicated to highlighting this inconsequential group. The only useful observation yet to emerge this last twenty-five years has come from the late John McCririck that, given that Brooklyn was conceived in the NY district of Brooklyn, it was just

Some readers like to own racehorses. Therefore I introduce Oliver Rix who has been very well brought up and knows what he is doing. He only started developing his string a year ago but he has now taken space at Luca Cumani's old yard, Bedford House at Newmarket. You can get all the contact details by Googling for Oli Rix. Oli is a serious man on his way. Written by Simon Cawkwell, January 2026

I first invested in Distil (DIS) about twenty-five years ago. It has never made money and has had to keep raising new capital just to stay alive. One drawback when considering matters right now is that although the last published balance sheet shows tangible assets appreciably exceeding its current capitalisation of just £2.4m one just does not know what losses have occurred since and/or whether this tiny company has finally turned the corner. I bought 20m last week at 0.14p

DELT is subject to a bid at 7p. The fly in the ointment is squiffy-brained Ed Miliband. I reckon this is worth a punt since I paid 3.7p this morning. There is plenty of stock about as holders despair of anything being done. Written by Simon Cawkwell, January 2026

Yesterday's Daily Mail covered the serious failure of HMRC to handle current volumes of contacts with the public. There can be little reason to expect the successful implementation of Making Tax Digital. But the bigheads who run HMRC seem incapable of behaving reasonably. Stand by for chaos. Written by Simon Cawkwell, January 2026

Yesterday NSI published its net asset value at 184p. At 130p it is a terrific buy for the seriously patient. Written by Simon Cawkwell, January 2026

However readers elect to approach this opportunity, highlighted a couple of days ago, I must stress that they should be careful about sending cash to a broker and/or investment fund without being clear as to what paperwork will be generated and when. There is no point in hoping that the FCA will assist. It will not and never could have. Written by Simon Cawkwell, January 2026