I always enjoy these "alternative" letters. Here is the opening:

Well it's been a good year for equities hasn't it? From the low in March the FTSE 100 is up nearly 60% - that beats the return on cash! As ever the index doesn't tell us the whole story. The sector that lead the last bull market up - mining - is not, according to folk lore, supposed to be one of the leaders of the next one, but look at this table. Industrial metals was the best sector - up 193% from the 2009 low - followed by Mining - up 178%. Copper futures, a big driver of the mining sector, were up 142%.

Fullermoney themes, fortunately, and here is one of Clive Hale's "alternative" observations:

Having ridden through Kazakhstan last year I can tell you there are some very fat miners there judging by the prevalence of top of the range Mercs and Beemers not to mention the odd red Italian sports car leaving rubber around Almaty. There were a lot of Chinese staying in our hotel and that speaks volumes for the continuing strength of copper and other industrial
minerals. If the Chinese economy continues to expand then the mining story is far from over, but don't expect a comfortable ride.

David Fuller's view One of our adventurous daughters and her husband also travelled through Kazakhstan last year, as part of their around-the-world tour, and had a similar impression. Previously unimpressed by the food in other 'stans', they also mentioned some decent Chinese restaurants. I'm still not going.