Penny Black's Insurance Week - 20 February 2014

The occasion in question was Post’s Motor claims conference, where editor-in-chief Jonathan Swift noted that Straw (and fellow MP Jonathan Evans) were reaching the end of their respective tenures.

Keen to refute any inference that he had something of the lame duck about him the former Home Secretary roared “we’re not dead yet” as confused delegates looked on aghast. Beware the pitfalls of eulogising politicians.

Meanwhile in Surrey, Penny was devastated to see floods wrack Chertsey, a landmark site- birthplace of one Post journalist and one of the oldest towns in the country. She was thrilled, therefore, to see flood defences rapidly erected and sitting proudly in the Surrey sunshine this weekend, chief among them a 600-metre water-filled plastic tube heaved into place by Army personnel on Saturday. The Environment Agency imported the £90 000 dam from Sweden, and claims it will prevent floodwaters reaching 200 homes. What to christen such a grandiose achievement, surely the King Canute that actually turns the tide? The Chertsey Sausage. Local humour is still intact, then.        

Follow Penny on Twitter