The weather again made the headlines last Saturday night. Although it wasn't too bad for the switch on of the Christmas lights the wind later on was quite ferocious and for a short time the Tamar Bridge was closed to ALL traffic, not just high sided vehicles. The south coast seems to have suffered particularly badly from the storm, lots of powerlines down and plenty of damaged boats. Climate change or one of those aberrations in the weather to which our country has always been subject? Well, we have always had extreme weather events of course but what has changed is the regularity of these severe incidents. For instance the Boscastle/Crackington Haven flood, the Birmingham tornado. the Carlisle floods not to mention more frequent and intense thunderstorms. This small selection of events very much fits in with climate change. Bear in mind that the effect of climate change will get worse over the next decade so expect insurance premiums to go up in the future!

We should spare a thought for the Philippines recently buffeted by the fourth typhoon in three months. There are over 1000 people dead or missing as a result of the mudslide on the side of a volcano and tens of thousands more displaced. Typhoons never seem to get quite the same publicity here as hurricanes.

Mentioning insurance premiums just now reminds me of one of Gordon Brown's cleverest taxes, insurance premium tax. As people take out more insurance and as premiums rise there is more income for Gordon. Very neat!