Gold, silver, metals and stones

There's copious material, this Tuesday morn, on the burning church, on the mosque inside the Vatican, on all sorts of CofE corruption, or Orthodox tales ... that's too much of a rabbit hole early morn ... shall look at that over at Unherdables later.

Today at Orphans ... money.  Mammon. As in how to preserve whatever hard assets you have. Zero Hedge, predictably, suggest this:

How many of you would risk govt bonds and securities today in the west?  As for gold, I saw this:

Gold is widely considered a strong "sound" or safe-haven investment in early 2026, with many analysts expecting prices to consolidate or rise towards $5,000–$6,000 per ounce due to persistent geopolitical tension, central bank buying, and high global debt. While 2025 saw massive gains, 2026 is projected to maintain high demand. tavexbullion.co.uk tavexbullion.co.uk

The disclaimer of course is that I'm the last person to take any investment advice from ... money and I are longtime strangers through poor choices. However, I was looking around just for interest's sake:

In April 2026, amid high market volatility from geopolitical tensions and inflation, defensive investments focus on low-volatility ETFs, utility stocks, and dividend-paying companies.

Women have their jewellery, men have ... er ... whatever we still have left. Personally, methinks  diversity is not a dirty word when it comes to our assets.