Society

Last Saturday, on 2 April, 9-year-old Bonnie Armitage was killed by a kick from a horse. This tragic accident could have happened anywhere – at the yard, at a pony club camp, on a fun ride – but as it happened, it was at the closing meet of the Cotswold Hunt.  This last aspect of the accident is what so many people seem to have a problem with: people are now using her death as an excuse to reignite the hunting debate. Many of the comments – on numerous newspaper websites and on social media – are utterly vile, and don’t bear reading, let alone repeating. I know that we should all

Some people seem to want to discuss their sex lives on television, as in the show Sex Box. Couples are interviewed before and after they have tried something new, right there in the studio (although hidden from view). This week, the couple were close friends, and were trying out being lovers for the first time. The interviews are full of therapeutic empowering chat, plus saucy joking. I consider this sort of thing a form of cultural vandalism, rather like what Isis got up to in Palmyra. Something frail and important is being damaged in a quick burst of self-righteousness. What is being damaged is the delicate tradition that associates sex with profound privacy.

If you’re not familiar with the nuances of the insurance industry (and quite frankly, who is?), then the name Flood Re may seem odd. It’s the moniker given to a new government-backed scheme designed to help homeowners in flood-stricken areas reduce their insurance premiums. Launched yesterday, Flood Re is the first of its kind in the world. A joint initiative between the insurance industry and the government, its title derives from the word ‘reinsurance’. It’s essentially a type of company that allows insurers to insure themselves – in this case against losses because of flooding. Put simply, the higher cost of insurance associated with flood-risk areas is passed on to Flood Re,

Don’t speak ill of the dead and all that – but, after Zaha Hadid’s sad, premature death at 65, we’ve only had oceans of praise. Over the last few days, the usual suspects, Richard Rogers and Anish Kapoor, have weighed in to testify to her genius and charm. Well, they would praise Hadid, wouldn’t they? They were her close friends, from the same clique of megastar modernist architects/sculptors, whose grand-gesture works are all the rage these days. If you weren’t in that clique, the truth is rather different – as I found out when I interviewed Zaha Hadid five years ago. In my 16 years as a journalist, she was the rudest

The weather has rarely been out of the news over the past few months following devastating flooding across the country. Today there’s a glimmer of hope for homeowners as Flood Re gets underway. Under the terms of this new government-backed scheme, people who live in areas susceptible to flooding should be able to access cheaper home insurance. The scheme is partly funded by a charge to insurers for each policy passed to the scheme and a levy on all UK home insurers. But research by home insurer Admiral suggests more needs to be done to educate those affected as only one in seven of us have heard of the scheme. Dominating the headlines on Sunday

As the London mayoral race heats up, Sadiq Khan has gone on the offensive when it comes to the cost of public transport under the Tories. The Labour candidate — who promises a four-year fares freeze if elected — says that when it comes to value for money, things have got so bad that a luxury transatlantic Virgin flight from London to New York now works out more cost effective than a short trip from South Kensington to Heathrow on the Piccadilly line. While the flight comes to 32p a mile, the tube journey is more, at 42p a mile. So, with Khan focussed on making sure members of the public don’t have to pay sky-high prices