Pressure is mounting today on Alistair Darling as voices from within the industry call for his resignation over after it is alleged he compared the insurance industry to a “Ponzi scheme of Madoff proportions”.

Darling’s press office immediately responded to the allegations by releasing a statement, claiming “Even if Alistair did make these comments (and we’re not in a position to confirm or deny this), what people must try to remember is this Government is here to serve the people and that the Chancellor is no more expected to understand economic theory than the Prime Minister is expected to demonstrate competent leadership or understand foreign policy.”

Mr Darling was unavailable for comment, however sources close to him say he is “nonplussed” by the whole affair and is rumoured to have spent the day in an undisclosed location playing table tennis with Ed Balls.

Gordon Brown, during his weekly spot on Piers Morgan’s evening talk show (“Things can only get better”), broke his silence on the issue stating that “I never liked him anyway”, when, in a controversial and unprecedented move, Piers invited him to talk “about the issues and not focus on the vastly insignificant personal angles”. The Prime Minister responded, stating that “[we] have consulted several expert lobbyists for the insurance industry and they assure me everything is just fine. What more can we do?”. The FSA was not mentioned, presumably because they’re now well known to be about as useful as a one legged man in an arse kicking contest.

As more and more tabloid pressure mounts on Darling, it would appear his support from the political giant that is Gordon “We saved the world” Brown is beginning to wane. Insider sources within government say “This is a tipping point for Darling, and the moment we locate the Cabinet, action will be taken…”

Amazingly a single gang of travellers are said to have been the root cause of 47% of all insurance claims for caravan theft.

The BBC cite the Wiltshire gang as having been responsible for – wait for it – HALF of all the caravans stolen in the whole of the UK between 2004 and 2007.

They really must dig caravans.

How about some mugshots?  Here you go:

Astonishing. It took 19 police forces across the UK to arrest them. Here’s a sample of some of the action:

Today they are safely behind bars. Phew. Your 4 berth, Fixed Bed, Full awning 2006 Ace Jubilee Statesman is safe.

Remember, you saw it first on RiskHeads (probably).

On behalf of RiskHeads.org I’d like to say a big thank you for our mention in the Top 10 Insurance Blogs over at Insiders View. THANKS guys.

Since our recent launch we’ve been pleased by the massive feedback we’ve been getting from readers and to see RiskHeads up there already with the likes of Times Online and The Guardian gives us all a warm fuzzy feeling inside.

So our biggest thanks has to go to our readers: thanks for your continued support!  Let us know what you’d like to see here and we’ll get it done for you.

The BBC have an interesting article describing how technology has once more made the previously uninsurable, insurable.

I quote:

“A new insurance scheme has been launched in northern Kenya which offers herdsmen a chance to protect their livestock against drought.”

Click here to view the  full article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8475548.stm

Let us know what you think. Will everything be insurable one day?

The human brain is a marvellous thing.

I’ve been typing a lot today, so much so that my thumb has started to hurt. So I’ll keep this short.

What amazes me is that I was able to think ‘OK, so I’ll just stop using my right thumb’ and I then continued typing for the next hour without using it, without creating loads of mistakes or even slowing down too much. How exactly?

Working on the rules engine for our insurance software today makes me appreciate just how extraordinary it is that the brain can accept rules into the subconscious and then start processing them without so much as a hickup, any formal, lengthy definition, or any forethought or planning. The rules we give our brain on a whim can cover just about anything and almost always work perfectly. In fact, we can make them work better by thinking harder: if I want to make sure I type 100% correctly without using my thumb I can do it, or I can type really fast and the rule is only loosely applied. It’s like there’s an Importance level we set for these ad-hoc rules.

They even work at times like this where they affect a completely subconscious activity like typing. Does that mean I could learn to breath differently? Probably. There are plenty of people that learn to walk in silly ways.

I’m certain that with our rules engine we need to emulate the brain; that’s our real competition, not other software systems.

According to Brian Duperreault during his speech at the Rendez-Vous de Septembre reinsurance meeting in Monte Carlo:

“It’s instant gratification. When you bind a big piece of business, as a broker you celebrate. As a carrier, you don’t know whether to laugh or cry.”

Thanks to Regis Coccia for the original post over at Business Insurance.  (He’s looking after Sally’s column while she’s away.)

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety crashed a 1959 Chevrolet Bel Air into a 2009 Chevrolet Malibu to ‘celebrate’ their 50th Anniversary.

Malibu and Bel Air Crash - both deserve their fate...

Must have been some party. I wonder whether they planned it or someone had too much fizzy pop.

The original video posted to YouTube was here but seems to have been taken down for some reason, but there’s a fresher copy here.

Feel free to add more links to the video or similar videos in the comments.

What do you think, was this a bit of a sick way to celebrate for a safety agency, or was it a scientific tribute to man’s great progress?

MORE THAN Living have a video on YouTube showing the most common crashes that insurance fraudsters stage to make fraudulent motor claims.

It’s done Postman Pat style, though without any style. Might be useful though.

Instructions for how to commit insurance fraud by MORE THAN? Or a stern warning?