Maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner but I am proud to have played a tiny part in helping to keep 21 million tonnes of sewage out of the Thames via my shareholding in International Public Partnerships (INPP). This £2.8 billion fund’s top asset is Tideway, which built and operates London’s super sewer.

That’s just as well because when my father fell into the Thames back in the 1970s, he was told he was at greater risk of being poisoned than drowning. It really was a dirty old river back then  and is much cleaner today.

Food will never go out of fashion and it is impossible to feed the world’s population of 8.3 billion people without efficient agricultural equipment, such as combine harvesters and tractors. That adds up to fundamental demand for the goods supplied by this company which will never go away. 

Bad news about global conflict is good news for shares in this investment trust, which is benefiting from Europe’s rush to re-arm with new technology led by space-tech. While doubts remain about where Britain will find the money to honour Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s promise to spend more on defence the direction of travel remains clear.

Food snobs may sneer but McDonald’s is the biggest fast food business in the world because it serves up affordable treats people like to eat. Devotees of DIY healthy cooking at home may wish it weren’t so but McDonald’s is also a major beneficiary of the long-term trend toward eating out. Rising numbers of people around the world, in developed and emerging economies, are ‘cash rich but time poor’ and one thing they all have in common is getting hungry.

Energy is the economy and investors aiming to build a diversified portfolio of shares should consider having some exposure to this sector. Sad to say, violent conflicts and recent restrictions on the supply of oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Middle East and Russia demonstrate the fundamental importance of energy.

Pharmaceutical shares offer investors the chance to help fund medical research and do well by doing good. But they but do not guarantee healthy returns because only 10% of new medicines that begin clinical trials survive phases I to III and make it to market. So billions of shareholders’ wealth is destroyed every year on drugs that disappoint.

An unholy combination of droughts and floods this year threaten food production and prices. Corn, wheat and a wide variety of agricultural commodities for human and animal nutrition are the goods that Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) has traded in for over a century. More recently, it has also become involved in the production of ethanol and biofuels to reduce the developed world’s reliance on petrol and diesel.

Raw materials, such as soybeans, are also processed into flavours, colours and plant-based proteins or health ingredients, such as probiotics and omega-3 fatty acids, for other food retailers. ADM is not a household name, because it sells its soft commodities to other businesses, rather than consumers, but it is one of the biggest food and drink companies on this planet with a stock market value of $39 billion (£29 billion).

However much we would like to see less pollution, the fact remains that oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) are likely to remain necessary to keep us warm and in work for years to come.

These fossil fuels are also needed for the production of most plastics and synthetic fibres, so anti-oil protesters should beware they would probably be naked and unshod without them. That’s why I have been a shareholder in oil and gas companies for more than a decade and intend to remain invested in this sector for capital growth and income, despite repeated tax raids.

Human tragedies hit the headlines in any violent conflict, quite properly, but wars produce winners as well as losers. BAE Systems (BA.) is a major beneficiary of bad news from the Middle East and Ukraine which help to make it Britain’s biggest manufacturing business.

Its products include advanced combat systems, including fighter jets – such as the Eurofighter Typhoon – and F-35 components, plus submarines – including the Astute and Dreadnought classes – warships, armoured combat vehicles, and precision munitions. BAE makes Royal Navy submarines at its base in Barrow-in-Furness, Britain’s biggest shipyard. It also produces electronic warfare systems, cyber security solutions, and space electronics.