It might sound unusual us taking a look at an insurance company in these depressed times, since you might think it might be a bit exposed to the credit markets.

Not only that but it might also be exposed to every kind of natural and man-made disaster going.

Not so, apparently, with premiums on the rise and exposure hedged. RSA looks like it might weather the storm…

Research: RSA

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Damn, it is so hard to keep up in these weird old times. Everything is going up and down faster than a steam hammer on overdrive.

Hang on. There’s a thought. What about some heavy engineering technologies for us to get our hands, er, portfolio, dirty.

Aveva looks like it is solid enough to ride out the storm and although the shares have suffered a tad since we wrote this, they still look good to us.

Research: AVV

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The Money Observer Awards have just been dished out to fund managers who have outperformed in a difficult year for the markets and managers.

Here, the magazine's editor spills the beans on what separates the good fund managers from the simply ordinary and what the top investors are telling him.

For the record, here are the winners of the awards. Full details are published in the June issue of Money Observer, available now at all good newsagents.

GROUP AWARDS
Money Observer 2008 Premier Group award
M&G Investments

Money Observer 2008 UK Funds Group award
Threadneedle Investments

INDIVIDUAL AWARDS – UK FOCUSED

Best UK Growth fund
Winner: Aegon UK Equity
Highly commended: SWIP UK Advantage

Best UK Income Growth fund
Winner: Invesco Perpetual High Income
Highly commended: Threadneedle UK Equity Inc

Best UK Smaller/Mid Cap fund
Winner: Old Mutual UK Select Mid Cap
Highly commended: Standard Life UK Smaller Companies

Best Mixed Asset fund
Winner: McInroy & Wood Income
Highly commended: Margetts Select Strategy

Best Fixed Interest fund
Winner: Ballie Gifford High Yield
Highly commended: Newton International Bond

Best Property fund
Winner: SWIP Property

Best Ethical fund
Winner: Aegon Ethical Equity
Highly commended: Aberdeen Ethical World

INDIVIDUAL AWARDS – GLOBAL AND REGIONAL

Best Global Growth fund
Winner: Neptune Global Equity
Highly commended: M&G Global Basics

Best Asia Pacific fund
Winner: First State Asia Pacific
Highly commended: Threadneedle Asia

Best European fund
Winner: SVM Continental Europe
Highly commended: JPMorgan European Dynamic

Best American fund
Winner: Martin Currie North America
Highly commended: Legg Mason US Smaller Companies

Best Emerging Markets fund
Winner: Baillie Gifford Emerging Markets Growth
Highly commended: JPMorgan Emerging Europe

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In the last of our trilogy of bank stories in celebration of the bank holiday, we bring you a spanking good story.
It's about two British banking giants who have been quite naughty when it comes to lending, but now they want to make amends.
Actually they want us to give them more money so they can leverage themselves out of trouble, but hey, what's a billion or 12 between friends.

Research: HBOS.L
Research: RBS.L

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