(Reuters) - Romantic comedy "Killers" ended the three-week run of the Sex and the City sequel at the top of the box office but barely scraped past the million-pound mark. The story of a hired assassin finding true love, with Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl, took 1.05 million pounds over the weekend, according to Screen International. "Sex and the City 2" with Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis was down in second spot with 3D musical "Streetdance" unchanged at three. Jake Gyllenhaal, Ben Kingsley and Gemma Arterton in Disney's "Prince of Persia: the Sands of Time" stayed in fourth place, just above "Letters to Juliet" which fell three places to fifth with the story of a quest for love inspired by the Romeo and Juliet courtyard in Verona. "Death at a Funeral," a remake of a British 2007 comedy, was unchanged in sixth spot with Chris Rock and Danny Glover faced with an inconvenient guest at a wake. Seventh was the top 10's only other newcomer, "Wild Target," with Harry Potter actor Rupert Grint and Bill Nighy in the second of this week's films to involve hired guns going soft. Family comedy "The Tooth Fairy" slipped a spot to eight while director Ridley Scott's take on the legend of Robin Hood was down at nine from eight. "Brooklyn's Finest," with Don Cheadle, Richard Gere and Wesley Snipes in a tale of police corruption, was the week's biggest faller, slipping five places to tenth. ($1=.6465 Pound)"Killers" top box office -- but only just
Ally McCoist has praised Madjid Bougherra for the way the Rangers defender handled Wayne Rooney and Emile Heskey for Algeria on Friday. The Rangers assistant manager was a television pundit as Algeria drew 0-0 with England in World Cup Group C. "A couple of times Rooney and Heskey tried to take him on physically. They would probably win that battle against 95% of defenders at the World Cup. "But Boughie is a big unit," McCoist told BBC Scotland. "He is a big lad and you don't push him about or knock him off the ball and he certainly stood up to the aggression of Heskey and Rooney and I thought Bougherra played very well. "I thought Bougherra, Belhadj on the left-hand side and the lad up front Ziani were very, very good. "All the good players from the game were Algerian." McCoist, though, had sympathy for his English colleagues on the commentary team and Fabio Capello's side. "Make no mistake about it, they are really struggling," said the former Scotland striker. "I watched the first game against USA and they did alright. "I thought they were the better team against the USA and you can't legislate for a goalkeeping howler that cost them two points. "But I was at the game in Cape Town against Algeria and they were really poor. They look scared actually, as if they are playing with a little bit of fear." McCoist is using the trip to scout for talent now that Rangers have been allowed by their bankers to spend money to improve their squad for the first time in nearly two years. However, he stressed that the Scottish champions were still having to operate in the bargain basement. "I have been watching all the games, but I am looking at teams like Australia, New Zealand, Honduras and teams like that to see if there is anything knocking about," said McCoist. "I am not saying we don't have anything to spend, but any money we do get, we will have to spend very, very wisely." While McCoist has been in South Africa, Rangers owner Sir David Murray has taken the Glasgow club off the market after a viable takeover failed to materialise. "I had a hunch that the way things were going. Well, nothing was going, there was no movement," he said. "There was supposed interest. It was all talk effectively and I think the ex-chairman just probably had enough and said, 'right, if nobody's going to come in and make us an acceptable offer then we'll just take the club off the market'. So I would not say it was a massive surprise to me." Walter Smith has agreed to remain as manager for a final season, with the plan being to hand over the reins to McCoist next summer and the present assistant was happy that the status quo prevailed. "The one thing about the owner and ex-chairman, I don't think anyone can deny his love for the club and his desire for the club to do well," said McCoist. "He has been at the helm for a good number of years and, although he isn't chairman any more, nobody can argue that he hasn't got the club's best interests at heart." However, McCoist is not taking his inheritance for granted. "I am realistic enough to know that a year's a long time in football," he said. "Without doubt, it would be the biggest honour that I could ever get or ever want. "To play for the club you supported as a kid is one thing; to be there as a player for 15 years and then come back as a coach and assistant manager is fantastic and beyond most people's wildest dreams. "But to actually become manager would be absolutely outrageous."Ally McCoist hails Madjid Bougherra's World Cup display
Self-portrait With a Palette, put up for sale by hedge fund tycoon Steve Cohen, sets new benchmark for the artist An important Édouard Manet self-portrait – one of only two that the artist ever painted – set an auction record last night when it sold in London for £22.4m. The artist's depiction of himself as a dandyish gentleman, complete with palette in right hand and brush in left hand, broke the previous record for a Manet of £16.3m, set in 1989. It was a brisk evening at Sotheby's, with bidders buying £112m of impressionist and modern art. But it was not a blockbuster night – that could come tonight at Christie's, with its two star lots of a blue period Picasso and a Monet waterlily painting. Self-portrait With a Palette, painted by Manet in 1878, had been estimated at between £20 and £30m, and the fact that it achieved the lower end of the estimate could even be seen as a disappointment, given some of the extraordinary prices paid for top-end art this year. The auction record for any work of art has been broken twice already in 2010 – £65m for Giacometti's Walking Man I sculpture in February and then£70m for a Picasso in May. The Manet was put up for sale by one of the world's richest hedge fund tycoons, Steve Cohen, who bought it when he first started collecting art 10 years ago. Over the years, the painting has been owned by some of the world's best known collectors, beginning with the French industrialist Auguste Pellerin. It was also Lot No 1 of one of the most famous sales of the last century – the October 1958 sale at Sotheby's of work from the collection of Jakob Goldschmidt. Predictably, the newspapers at the time called it the "sale of the century", and among those wearing dinner jackets and posh frocks in the audience were Kirk Douglas, Somerset Maugham and Margot Fonteyn. It sold for the then eye-popping sum of £65,000 to the Wall Street investor John Loeb. Other standouts from last night's sale included a new artist record for André Derain, for his fabulously vibrant Arbres à Collioure, which sold for £16.3m – double the previous record and also the most money ever spent on any fauvist painting at auction. Its sale was all the more interesting because, for 40 years, it was hidden in a Paris bank vault. Helena Newman, a Sotheby's vice-chairman, said after the sale: "The strong, fauve colours and powerful composition of the Derain painting, combined with its extraordinary provenance, proved extremely appealing to tonight's bidders." It was also a strong night for drawings. For example, Henri Matisse's Étude pour Nu rose sold for £5.9m, a record for a drawing by the artist. All eyes now turn to Christie's this evening. Its president, Jussi Pylkkänen, has talked of the existence of a 21st-century version of the Medicis – super-rich collectors from the UK and US, the Middle East, Russia and China – all competing for the very best examples of art. The question is will they be tempted and could the auction record be broken once again when Monet's Nymphéas, 1906 and Picasso's Portrait of Angel Fernandez de Soto, being sold for charity in aid of Andrew Lloyd Webber's foundation, are offered for auction. Both have estimates of £30 to £40m.Manet self-portrait fetches record £22m at Sotheby's auction
Highlights: France 1-2 South Africa South Africa made the country proud by beating 10-man France in their final game, said Carlos Alberto Parreira, coach of the World Cup hosts. The 2-1 win was South Africa's first of the tournament but was not enough to stop them becoming the first ever host nation to go out in the group stages. "I am proud of the boys. They made this country proud," said Parreira. Uruguay beat Mexico 1-0 to finish top of Group A, meaning the Mexicans qualify in second on goal difference. South Africa did their utmost against a dispirited French side to seal a place in the last 16, but it was not to be as they finished level on four points with Mexico but three goals worse off than El Tri. Turmoil has engulfed the French camp this week but despite Les Bleus' off-field problems, Parreira said the hosts' victory over the 2006 finalists was a clear sign of Bafana Bafana's improvement. "They proved that they have made progress," added Parreira. There was an unsavoury end to proceedings when French coach Raymond Domenech refused to shake hands with Parreira at full-time, leading to an exchange of words between the two. "I believe it was because I had criticised his team after they qualified [when they controversially beat Ireland in the play-offs to make the finals], but I really don't remember," explained Parreira. "This is what his assistants told me." Parreira, who returned for a second spell as South Africa coach in October 2009, having previously being in charge between 2007 and 2008, will now step down from his role with the team as planned for family reasons. "I feel at home here. In my heart deeply I will always remember this country," he added. "These boys, what they did for me in preparation they were unbelievable. "I just want to say thank you to these people." Parreira explains Domenech snub Bongani Khumalo's header from a corner and a bundled finish from Katlego Mphela gave South Africa a 2-0 half-time lead against France, who had Yoann Gourcuff controversially sent off for an elbow on Macbeth Sibaya between the goals. However, they could not make their numerical advantage count in the second half and French substitute Florent Malouda's consolation goal ended their hopes of qualification. "We really knew what we had to do today and obviously getting an early goal helped us a lot," said Khumalo. "It was important that we carried the momentum on. "I really thought we could pull through." France finished bottom of Group A with only one point to bring an end to their miserable campaign. The French camp has been in disarray, with players refusing to train on Sunday following the decision to send striker Nicolas Anelka home for criticising coach Domenech, while captain Patrice Evra was dropped for the game against South Africa.World Cup 2010: South Africa proud of team - Parreira
Hospitals could lose up to £1.5bn a year under tough readmission plan Hospitals could lose up to £1.5bn of NHS funding a year because of the government's decision to penalise those where patients return within 30 days of being treated. That is the conclusion of research conducted by health analysts Dr Foster into the potential impact of the tough new policy. It warns that NHS trusts face large potential losses, the biggest could reach £28.7m, as a result of the new approach. In all, 146 acute, specialist and mental health trusts could lose out. The study – to which Dr Foster has given SocietyGuardian first access – will make grim reading for the chief executives and medical directors of the affected trusts across England, where the policy will apply. It is the first attempt to calculate how much income NHS trusts could lose under the health secretary's plan. Andrew Lansley wants to force the NHS to provide better care in hospitals and mental health establishments, to keep treating patients there until they are fit to leave and to work more closely with community-based healthcare professionals, such as GPs and district nurses, to ensure sick people receive more help with their convalescence after discharge and so are less likely to return to hospital. "Making hospitals responsible for a patient's ongoing care after discharge will create more joined-up working between hospitals and community services and may be supported by the developments in re-ablement and post-discharge support," he says. Dr Foster's study, based on hospitals' records of patients who were readmitted within 28 days – rather than the 30 days stipulated by Lansley – warns that in 2009 hospitals received £1.49m for treating 820,395 patients who were readmitted within 28 days of undergoing surgery, 6.7% of the total. Hospitals will lose some or all of that money once the policy comes into force. The Department of Health has yet to spell out if hospitals will no longer be paid for treating any patients who come back within the limit, regardless of the reasons, or just those with certain medical conditions. That will happen "in due course", the department says. But, as Lansley said when he outlined the change this month: "We're going to ensure that hospitals are responsible for patients not just during their treatment but also for the 30 days after they've been discharged. It will be in the interests of the hospital for patients to be discharged only when it is ready and safe for them to do so. And if a patient is readmitted within those 30 days, the hospital will not receive any additional payment for the additional treatment … We are sending a clear message that patient care doesn't end when they walk out of the hospital door." If it turns out to be a blanket policy of no money for any readmission, Dr Foster estimates that University hospitals of Leicester NHS trust could lose £28.7m – the most of any of the 146 trusts. That is because in 2008-09, 16,331 of the 210,531 patients it treated, 7.8%, came back within the time frame. The other big losers, on Dr Foster's analysis, would include Leeds teaching hospitals NHS trust (£26.2m) and Nottingham University hospitals NHS trust (£25.7m). Gateshead health NHS foundation trust had the highest rate of readmissions within 28 days – 10.4%. The joint lowest, on 4.8%, were Chelsea and Westminster hospital foundation trust, West Hertfordshire hospitals trust and Hereford hospitals trust. The survey also looked at who was treated and what for. The three conditions most likely to lead to a readmission are chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and bronchiectasis, often caused by smoking – 22.7% of patients with that end up back in hospital; sickle-cell anaemia (22.4%); and alcohol-related liver disease (21.4%). That shows the potential for the NHS to improve its performance by, for example, encouraging more people to give up smoking or minimise their drinking. When a patient has had an operation, they are most likely to reappear within 28 days if they have had a kidney transplant – 27% do so – or have undergone drainage of their peritoneal cavity (25%) as part of cancer treatment. Readmission rates after a hip replacement range from 3% to 18% – a worryingly wide gap. Penalising hospitals for preventable readmissions is growing in popularity internationally. In the US, for example, it has been decided that Medicare will not pay for preventable readmissions from 2012 for conditions such as heart failure or pneumonia. Bad luck The British Medical Association is concerned that Lansley's policy could lead to patients being kept in hospital longer than necessary and could prove unfair because many of the reasons patients are readmitted, such as their own behaviour, bad luck or a lack of community support with recovery, are outside of a hospital's control and unrelated to its quality of care. "This shouldn't be a blanket policy and I suspect it won't be," says John Appleby, chief economist at the King's Fund health thinktank. "A hospital could be giving the best care in the world but would still get some readmissions." But he thinks the new approach could prove useful by stimulating hospitals to do much more to ensure their patients' follow-up care in the community is good enough, for example by liaising with GPs or even providing such primary care services themselves. Lansley says the government will leave the exact method for determining how non-payment should occur up to health commissioners, in consultation with GPs and local authorities. "This will allow the local NHS to come up with a solution that fits its circumstances," he explains. And he disputes the Dr Foster research findings. "The calculation of an £1.5bn extra cost to the NHS lacks merit, as it is based on incorrect assumptions," he says. "In any case, no money would be taken out of the system – it would remain with commissioners and they would use it to purchase other services for patients."NHS hospitals face high cost of return
Bono ONE of the most extraordinary days in the mottled history of the island of Ireland was witnessed on both sides of the border last Tuesday. The much-anticipated and costly Saville report ... the 12-years-in-the-making inquiry into “Bloody Sunday,”a day never to be forgotten in Irish politics ... was finally published. On that day, Jan. 30, 1972, British soldiers fired on a civil rights march in the majority Catholic area of the Bogside in Derry, killing 14 protesters. It was a day that caused the conflict between the two communities in Northern Ireland — Catholic nationalist and Protestant unionist — to spiral into another dimension: every Irish person conscious on that day has a mental picture of Edward Daly, later the bishop of Derry, holding a blood-stained handkerchief aloft as he valiantly tended to the wounded and the dying. It was a day when paramilitaries on both sides became the loudest voices in the conflict, a day that saw people queuing to give up on peace ... mostly young men but also women who had had enough of empire and would now consider every means necessary — however violent or ugly — to drive it from their corner. It was a day when my father stopped taking our family across the border to Ulster because, as he said, the “Nordies have lost their marbles.” And we were a Catholic-Protestant household. Contrast all this with last Tuesday ... a bright day on our small rock in the North Atlantic. Clouds that had hung overhead for 38 years were oddly missing ... the sharp daylight of justice seemed to chase away the shadows and the stereotypes of the past. No one behaved as expected. The world broke rhyme. A brand-new British prime minister, still in his wrapping paper, said things no one had imagined he would ... could ... utter .... “On behalf of our country, I am deeply sorry.” And there was more .... “What happened should never ever have happened,” said the new prime minister, David Cameron. “Some members of our armed forces acted wrongly. The government is ultimately responsible for the conduct of the armed forces. And for that, on behalf of the government, indeed on behalf of our country, I am deeply sorry.” It was inconceivable to many that a Tory prime minister could manage to get these words out of his mouth. It was also inconceivable — before he uttered the carefully minted phrasing — that he would be listened to by a hushed crowd gathered in Guildhall Square in Derry, a place not famous for its love of British leaders of any stripe, and that he would be cheered while speaking on specially erected screens that earlier had been used to relay images from the World Cup. Thirty-eight years did not disappear in an 11-minute speech — how could they, no matter how eloquent or heartfelt the words? But they changed and morphed, as did David Cameron, who suddenly looked like the leader he believed he would be. From prime minister to statesman. Joy was the mood in the crowd. A group of women sang “We Shall Overcome.” There was a surprising absence of spleen — this was a community that had been through more than most anyone could understand, showing a restraint no one could imagine. This was a dignified joy, with some well-rehearsed theatrics to underscore the moment. As well as punching the sky and tearing up the first “Bloody Sunday” inquiry — a whitewash by a judge named Lord Widgery who said the British troops had been provoked — these people were redrawing their own faces from the expected images: from stoic, tight-lipped and vengeful to broad, unpolished, unqualified smiles, unburdened by the bile the world often expects from this geography. Derry is a community and these Derry people looked like guests at a wedding — formal only for as long as they had to be, careful of their dead but not at all pious. Some began to speak of trials and prosecutions but most wanted to leave that talk for another day. Figures I had learned to loathe as a self-righteous student of nonviolence in the ’70s and ’80s behaved with a grace that left me embarrassed over my vitriol. For a moment, the other life that Martin McGuinness could have had seemed to appear in his face: a commander of the Irish Republican Army that day in 1972, he looked last week like the fly fisherman he is, not the gunman he became ... a school teacher, not a terrorist ... a first-class deputy first minister.Deirdre O'Callaghan
Scientists who assessed earthquake risk at L'Aquila could be indicted on manslaughter charges. ROME The deadly earthquake that struck the central Italian city of L'Aquila on 6 April 2009, has had a bizarre aftershock: some of Italy's top seismologists could face charges of manslaughter for not alerting the population before the disaster. The indictment has outraged experts around the world, who note that earthquakes cannot be predicted and who say that the Italian government neglected to enforce building codes that could have reduced the toll. The indictments, issued on 3 June by the L'Aquila public prosecutor's office, name six scientists as being investigated for manslaughter in relation to the earthquake. In Italy, this step usually precedes a request for a court trial, and is meant to allow the accused time to prepare their defence. The list comprises Enzo Boschi, president of the National Institute for Geophysics and Vulcanology (INGV) in Rome, the main institute in charge of seismic monitoring; Giulio Selvaggi, director of the National Earthquake Center based at INGV; Franco Barberi, a volcanologist at the University of 'Roma Tre'; Claudio Eva, a professor of earth physics at the University of Genoa; Mauro Dolce, head of the seismic risk office in the Italian government's Civil Protection Agency; and Gian Michele Calvi, director of the European Centre for Training and Research in Earthquake Engineering in Pavia. A government official, Bernardo De Bernardinis, deputy technical head of the Civil Protection Agency, is also under investigation. On 31 March 2009, all seven were in L'Aquila at a meeting of the Major Risks Committee, an expert group that advises the Civil Protection Agency on the risks of natural disasters. Frequent tremors had been recorded in the surrounding Abruzzo region, culminating in a magnitude-4.0 earthquake on 30 March. The meeting was convened by the service to ask the scientists whether a major earthquake was on its way. Immediately after that meeting, De Bernardinis and Barberi, acting president of the committee, held a press conference in L'Aquila, where De Bernardinis told reporters that "the scientific community tells us there is no danger, because there is an ongoing discharge of energy. The situation looks favorable". No other members of the committee were at the press conference. But on 6 April a magnitude-6.3 earthquake struck L'Aquila, killing 308 people, leaving about 1,600 injured and more than 65,000 homeless. A group of local citizens later said that many of the earthquake's victims had been planning to leave their homes — but had changed their minds after the committee's statements. In August 2009 they filed a formal request asking a prosecutor to investigate. L'Aquila's chief prosecutor, Alfredo Rossini, told the Italian press on 3 June that this had left him no choice but to proceed with an investigation and that his office had now gathered enough information to indict the individuals named. The minutes of the 31 March meeting, though, reveal that at no point did any of the scientists say that there was "no danger" of a big quake. "A major earthquake in the area is unlikely but cannot be ruled out," Boschi said. Selvaggi is quoted as saying that "in recent times some recent earthquakes have been preceded by minor shocks days or weeks beforehand, but on the other hand many seismic swarms did not result in a major event". Eva added that "because L'Aquila is in a high-risk zone it is impossible to say with certainty that there will be no large earthquake". Summing up the meeting, Barberi said, "there is no reason to believe that a swarm of minor events is a sure predictor of a major shock". All the participants agreed that buildings in the area should be monitored urgently, to assess their capacity to sustain a major shock. "These are the only sensible statements any scientist could make at that point," says Susan Hough, a geophysicist at the US Geological Survey in Pasadena, California. But Hough does disagree with some of the things said at the press conference. "The idea that minor earthquakes release energy and thus make things better is a common misperception. But seismologists know it's not true," she says. "I doubt any scientist could have said that." De Bernardinis, Boschi and Selvaggi said that they were unable to comment on the case because of the ongoing investigation. Before the indictment, Boschi had criticized the Civil Protection Agency's handling of the 31 March meeting. "Such a meeting", he stated in a letter on 16 September 2009 to Guido Bertolaso, the head of the Civil Protection Agency, "should have lasted hours if the Civil Protection Agency really wanted to consider all the data. Instead it only lasted one hour, and it was not followed by a joint statement but by a press conference about which we were not informed." The Civil Protection Agency responded by asking Boschi why he waited six months before objecting to the nature of the meeting, and stated that Boschi "never explained what specific actions" the department should have taken to reduce the risks from a potential earthquake. Staff at INGV have signed a letter of solidarity with Boschi and Selvaggi. Seismologists worldwide have also rallied to the defence of the scientists, with almost 4,000 researchers from 100 different countries signing a letter to Giorgio Napolitano, Italy's president, urging decision-makers to concentrate on "earthquake preparedness and risk mitigation rather than on prosecuting scientists for failing to do something they cannot do yet — predict earthquakes". Barry Parsons, at the department of earth sciences at the University of Oxford, who signed the letter, says that Italy's maps of seismic risk are of the highest possible standard, and clearly show that Abruzzo is a very high-risk area. "The proven and effective way of protecting populations is by enforcing strict building codes," he says. "Scientists are often asked the wrong question, which is 'when will the next earthquake hit?' The right question is 'how do we make sure it won't kill so many people when it hits?'" Italy puts seismology in the dock
Assigning blame
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Playing the stock market has always been a very male thing. Now a new wave of women working from home is changing all that. Madeline Thomas reports Private investing, day-trading and playing the stock market has always been a very male affair. Yet, over the past decade more and more women have joined in. Ten years ago, just 17% of the investors who used the online broker Selftrade were women. This year, it is 34%. This trend is not restricted to the one website. Stockopedia, a site specialising in broker research and stock market analysis, says between 30% and 40% of its user base is female. "Gone are the days when online investing was completely dominated by men," says Edward Croft, chief executive of Stockopedia. "There are increasing numbers of smart, savvy women out there who are taking up the challenge of making their own investment decisions. "They are showing that the traditional route of giving full control of your portfolio to an arms-length investment adviser is not the only choice." Many of the women who have turned to share trading have done so very recently. Selftrade's figures show that the proportion of investors using its site that are women jumped from 24% to 34% in just two years. The increasing availability of information and share services online has helped fuel this trend. It has also shifted the emphasis away from affluent individuals and City workers. Reading the blogs and message boards of sites ranging from the Motley Fool and Selftrade, to Interactive Investor and Stockopedia, it becomes very clear, very quickly, that investors are as diverse as the shares in which they trade. "The internet has made investing far more accessible and, as a result, we find that our users come from all walks of life and from all over the UK," Croft says. However, as diverse as the investing community may be, many recent investors have taken the plunge because they have been dissatisfied by the performance of their more traditional investments. So, who are the new female investors? Samina is a typical mum of three kids, aged eight, four and two. She is run off her feet and juggles the school run, nursery and childcare, and working four days a week as a debt recovery officer. Samina has always saved. She was prompted to take the plunge into buying and selling shares after her two endowment policies – with Legal & General and Friends Provident – performed so badly. "I just didn't make anything on them. There was no point in doing them. I'm better off self-investing," she says. Her disappointment in the performance of her investments came at the same time as she faced problems in her marriage, exacerbating the need for her to exert greater financial control. "There was a time when I didn't mind someone else investing my money on my behalf, but I've had some issues – marital problems etc – so, financially, I need to be secure now. I'm much more conscious of the need to plan ahead and I've realised I need more control over what I'm doing." Samina has been encouraged by her stepfather, Zahid, who has bought and sold shares for as long as she can remember, and has provided her with much appreciated guidance. In the past year, Samina's confidence in her own investing ability has grown. Now, instead of just buying and holding shares, she has taken the plunge and sold shares and changed the weighting of her portfolio as the markets have changed. "At the moment, I'm just invested in UK shares, mainly in power companies and energy providers, but I'm also looking to invest in US markets. "I could trade a lot more than I do, but if I traded more I'd need to do more research, and I don't have the time for that. I'm doing this to plan for my future, as well, not just for the kids." Samina's confidence has grown so much, thanks to the encouragement of Zahid, that she has now become an advocate of investing and has persuaded one of her friends to take up her hobby. "My friend is the same age – she's 41 – with kids the same age. She's a training manager with the civil service, but I've persuaded her, and she now buys shares. The risks are high but it's the best way to make some money grow if you've got the balls for it." Kate (not her real name) began investing in shares after her husband died. "My husband always managed the money. When he died there were all these decisions that I'd never taken that needed sorting. I carried on working and raising the children, and didn't really think about any investments other than to use the Isa allowance as it came up each year." The turning point for Kate was when she stopped work seven years ago. "I just couldn't do the job and raise the kids on my own." Suddenly she had more time on her hands and could do the research required to make sensible investment decisions. "I started off really small. Before, it was someone else always doing that investing and shouldering the risk, either in funds or in Isas, so when I started it suddenly seemed really risky to actually hit that 'buy' button. But I went in gently and read everything I could." Kate has researched her investments thoroughly. She began by reading around her subjects. That gave her the material she needed to home in on her specialism – oil. Kate was looking to invest in something she could hedge against and, for her, that was commodity shortages. Many oil companies may list on the London Stock Exchange and be bought in sterling by UK investors, but they are essentially a dollar-denominated asset, which can remove the sterling risk. "Once I found my forte, 90% of my active investing has been in oil shares. I'm not talking giants like BP, but small- and medium-sized companies. Their business is simpler to understand than, say, a bank or a pharmaceutical company, because they only have one product, so, as an investor, you're looking to find which company has an edge due to diligence." Kate has now returned to work – for one of Britain's leading charities – and says her investing takes as much time as she wants it to take. "I don't run shorts, derivatives or warrants and I don't do spread betting. I just run straight equity positions so I can switch off if I'm on a fortnight's holiday, for example. "I'm not glued to my PC, but I can do as much, or as little, as I choose." Cynthia, who does not want to give her full name, feels she has to do her own investing in order to get any returns, having seen her hard-earned investments reduce in value under the guidance of a broker. Having worked at the United Nationals Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) for 12 years, Cynthia took its "golden handshake" payment, worth around €50,000 (£41,500), and moved to the International Atomic Agency. She left the UN altogether in 2003 and moved to Britain with her husband. As UNIDO was based in Vienna, Cynthia entrusted her €50,000 to an Austrian broker. Seven years later, her investment is now worth just €40,000 (£33,200). "It's really hard to see my money lose so much value, but I feel stuck with it now. If I take that money out, then I've made the loss real. I'd rather keep the €40,000 where it is in Austria and hope it can make up its shortfall. I feel like I really have no control over that money. "When I came to the UK I'd left my job so I decided to study for a degree in psychotherapy. That's finished now, and I'm a housewife, for the moment, so I have the time to take control of my circumstances again. I've always worked, and I'm used to working, so I can't just sit and do nothing. Investing gives me the chance to do my own research, and it's not that hard if you are thorough." Having spent most of her working life outside the UK, Cynthia's investing strategy is strictly global. Her focus is on Brazil, China and emerging markets. "When I was with UNIDO I travelled a lot through Asia and Brazil, so I know where the opportunities are. For example, Brazil will be hosting the Olympics in 2016, so I'm looking at small- and medium-sized construction companies that I know will benefit from that work. "I'm also looking in Asia. I'm looking long term at construction, engineering and technology. My mum is from the Philippines, and I've travelled a lot to Asia for work, and this is an area I feel I know. I'm comfortable researching the data and the companies here, and I will have so much more control over my investment choices by buying and selling my own shares than I would if I chose another broker." However, Cynthia (above) is not ready to sever all advice ties. She has opted for an advisory online service rather than an "execution-only" one because she feels reassured that she can talk through her decisions. "I can do all my own research and come up with my choices, but then I can double-check, as well, before taking the plunge," she says. It won't all be high-risk, small-cap, emerging market companies. Cynthia has also homed in on a couple of blue chip favourites, "to get a bit more security, for the dividends, and to balance the portfolio".Online investing and women
Samina Ayub Debt recovery officer
Kate Charity worker
Cynthia Former civil servant, now a housewife
