General

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Even small steps are not acceptable

There have been a number of cases in the news lately of pubs and supermarkets refusing to sell alcohol to parents with their kids. The reasons given appear to be a suspicion that the alcohol is being brought for the child, or that it sets a bad example.

So what’s the problem here? Wasn’t it just a few weeks ago that there was rioting on the streets, (3,296 people arrested, sadly none of them charged with the crime of rioting), and everyone was up in arms about the lack of society, community and people not taking action against all these things that are wrong with our twenty first century society.

BUT now that people do start trying to take little steps to correct some of these perceived issues and start things moving in the right direction, everyone’s up in arms or just plain furious about that too!! It appears that we have become a very very self centred and selfish crowd that believes that as long as I’m not effected it’s OK, but if it effects me in any way then watch out!

If we are going to change things, then everyone is going to have to be a lot more understanding and tolerant of each other, different views and work together not against each other all the time.

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Insurance - will they pay out?

We have had representatives of the insurance industry on the national news telling us how there policies cover the events of the last few days, which by the way they are treating as riots. Then in the very next breath saying how the Riot (Damages) Act 1886 could help the uninsured or cover shortfalls in pay-outs. It seems to me that the insurance industry trying to have the best of both worlds giving an outward image of being caring and helpful while setting the scene for rejecting claims.

It has however stirred up an argument between the police and insurers as to who should be footing the bill. Which is likely to rage for some time to come well, at least until the claim periods of 14 days under the act and 7 days that a number of insurance companies have given has expired.
Something neither the insurance companies or police have pointed out, is that there is provision in the act for the Secretory of State to vary regulations respecting the time, manner, and conditions under which claims for compensation under this Act are to be made, and all claims not made in accordance with such regulations may be excluded. The Association of British Insurers has written to the Home Secretary requesting that the 14-day deadline be extended to 42.

At the end of the day if the police end up paying out under the Riot (Damages) Act 1886 it will be us the taxpayer that really ends up footing the bill. Either in higher Council Tax/Rates or via reduced services. While the insurance companies laugh all the way to the bank, increasing their premiums, (a figure of 15% is being mentioned), not paying out on their existing policies and starting to excluding riots from future policies, as its now become a ‘known risk’.

It will be interesting to come back to this in three or four months time when all the claims have hopefully been settle and see what happen.