UR TV CAST

Mantel clearly feels her separation from the North with hallucinatory vividness, but her endless keening wears the reader down.Taken for a Ride By Neil Roland (DEWI LEWIS £8.99) In the Sidney Fleiss old people’s home sits Rhona Laski, broken but beady-eyed. She sharpens her ready wit on the thick skulls of the nurses and her impossibly dull fellow-inmates, waiting for her son Philip to visit – preferably without his awful wife in tow – and for news from her friend Sylvia She wants Sylvia to move into the home with her. Sylvia’s granddaughter, an estate agent who has to contend with equally odious workmates, has found herself in love with “Blue”, a perky photographer obsessed with decay and transience, and thus finds it rather hard to concentrate on the business of getting her grandmother’s flat sold. The mysterious stranger usually has a mystery and Blue is no exception. As a comedy of errors it’s pretty pallid but the sassiness of Roland’s prose redeems much: “all those poor souls who would share so many happy memories if only they could remember where they had put them”. And some scenes – like the one in which Rhona, despite her professed distaste for compassion, helps an old man to reach a light switch by reminding him of what a genius his father was – deserve immortality.. Too many false dawns for the Japanese economic recovery have led many investors to treat outbreaks of optimism with suspicion.

After all, a string of attempts by politicians since the early 1990s to reform a banking sector saddled with bad debts, and inject fresh growth into the world’s second-biggest economy, have largely failed. In the month ending 11 July, for example, funds investing in Japan were the best performers among all geographical sectors and asset classes, reports ratings agency Standard & Poor’s.If you had put your money in a unit trust investing purely in Japanese stocks, you would have made a return of nearly 10 per cent during this time.However, it takes more than one month’s figures to judge whether an economy has turned round. Over six months, returns on Japan-focused investment funds have grown by 10.29 per cent, but this is in line with share price recovery in other major world stock markets.While many will wait for clear signs of a sustained revival, other investors believe Japan really has turned the corner. Mr Clough’s £377m fund has shares in car giant Toyota and telecoms firm Nippon Telegraph and Telephone “I am optimistic for two reasons,” he says. “Company valuations, and prices, are much lower, and there has been much business restructuring. The momentum of change is good and the success of that restructuring has helped investors’ confidence.”Natasha Chetwynd, head of Japanese equities at Britannic Asset Management, suggests robust company earnings have also played a part and agrees the prices represent good value: “According to some, the valuations for equities are as cheap as in the US, and that’s never happened before.”But independent financial advisers (IFAs) say you should only consider the country within a diversified portfolio. Jane Summerfield, at IFA Swallow Professional Financial Planning, says: “Japan needs to be viewed as a high-risk investment sector.

At best we would anticipate no more than 10 per cent in Japan for a portfolio with a wide geographical base. But for those ready to wait, and who see it as a buying opportunity, Japan will always be attractive to spice up a portfolio.”Ian Lowes, managing director of IFA Lowes Financial Management, says: “There have been a number of false dawns and the latest rally has really been one of hope. The best potential for profits will be from fund managers who can spot particular companies rather than those betting on a broad economic recovery.”Recommending the DWS Japan Growth fund, he adds: “If you have exposure to the Japanese market, you might see some tremendous returns, but it’s not something you should jump into with both feet.”An alternative strategy, suggests James Dalby, head of investment at IFA Bates Investment, is to spread the risk by choosing a fund that invests across the whole of Asia and the Far East. “Don’t take too big a punt [on Japan] in your portfolio – a maximum of about 5 per cent,” he says. “And it’s best to pick a fund with an experienced Japan manager.” He recommends the Martin Currie Japan fund.If you are keen to spread your portfolio risk, do some research.