Manny has it. And it is a new strain apparently. One only transmitted by eating North Sea Cod.
Playing fast and roos-ter
Amid all the Covid nonsense it has gone pretty unnoticed that there has been an outbreak of avian flu. And it is not just us that have been locked down to try and control the spread of a pandemic. The same is true of free range chickens. And, again, much like us, they need to exercise to maintain their health and mental wellbeing. So the obvious option was to let them play football. Managers through the ages have bemoaned that their team’s lack of creativity was akin to them running around like headless chickens. Now, the next time Pierre-Emrich Aubameyang starts pecking at the ball Arteta will have a whole new analogy to draw on. But it can only be a matter of time before someone seeks to develop this concept and Sky starts televising the Chicken Super League – presumably played behind closed claws.
Which got me thinking as to an all time greatest chicken XI. Full disclosure, a couple of these came from a podcast I listen to, and I am not going to give up the obvious one BBC offered. But it is mostly my own work. I have gone for an avant garde 4-2-3-1 formation. In goal we have Champions League winner and Chelsea U23 legend Petr Chick. He is protected by Battery Sagna at right back and in the centre Terry Butcher is partnered by Barca hardman Carlos Pollol (that is pushing it – ED). 1970s Leeds fans will be pleased to see Terry Coop-er at left back. Then, sitting in midfield, we have the afore aluded David Peckham alongside 1980s Paul Davis nemesis, Southampton’s Glenn Cockerel. They support an attacking trio of arch predator Ruel Fox on the right; Son Hen Min on the left; and George Breast through the middle. Leading the line up top is Darren Cluckabee. And, naturally they are managed not by Peck Guardiola, because we’ve used that one, nor Jurgen Koop, because ditto, but, fittingly this week, by Gerard Pouliet. RIP.
Semi serious
Whilst I appreciate that currently you will be only looking forward to forming your five day 3 family bubbles whilst not leaving your home or seeing anyone. Unless you are in Wales where it will be 2. Or Monmouthshire where it is presumably 2 ½ But I would like to draw your attention to a couple of events we are planning for the New Year.
We have some really exciting ideas around how LIIBA can better support you in developing a more diverse and inclusive broking community. We will launch these at a seminar in early February so look out for more details in early Jan.
Also in Jan – on 20th at 9:15am, we will be holding a seminar led by Chris Hirst – author of No B*llshit Leadership which won the 2020 Business Book of the Year award. Chris will be reflecting on the key principles of great leadership he discusses in his book and then looking at how they might still apply in a post Covid world of more remote working and flexibility. It promises to be a really fascinating session and I would highly recommend it. It is an experiment for us in widening the topics we cover in seminars etc and we hope you enjoy it. If so, we will look to put on more things like this. Although, to be fair, the only other person I know who has written a book and who I can pressure into doing stuff for free is my sister. And her History of Concrete Architecture only ever shifted four units on Amazon so is probably a bit more niche.
So save the date for Hirsty and we will send a formal invitation when we are all back.
Badder runoff gang
I promised more detail on the proposed run off regimes in EU27 in last week’s note. I confess to having over promised a little but I have discovered the following.
- The Maltese legislation only applies to insurers. It allows each firm to report to MFSA each year on the remaining book it has to run off. So there is no set time limit save that the MFSA will eventually get fed up with them presumably.
- The Irish 15 year run off period does not apply to reinsurance for some reason.
Not earth shattering, I grant you. And for this I mainly blame Isabelle BIPAR. Because she is there.
Pet subject
We may be no clearer on our future trading relationship with EU. But at least we have concluded agreement on how pets can continue to travel to the continent after the end of the year. We have not been granted full status such that the pet passport could still apply but you will only need a valid animal health certificate. Crucially the agreement means you would not need to submit a blood test (the pet’s not your’s) to an EU approved vet before travelling.
Except this is not quite all it seems. The ruling applies to cats (surly and disrespectful but ok), dogs (natch) and ferrets (wtf??!!). Why oh why oh why ferrets? What demented public servant added that to the draft law as it was being agreed? What if your rabbit, say, hero worshipped Bugs Bunny and had dreamed all its life of a trip to Euro Disney to meet its idol? What if your Orwell loving guinea pig had always dreamed of recreating his adventures in Homage to Catalonia? Whither Ken Livingstone?
There is only one conclusion to draw. EU regulations are developed by people with a deep seated hatred of Richard Whitely.
Giving Due Priority to Readiness
As previously covered it is extremely unlikely that EU will recognise UK as an adequate data privacy regime under GDPR before the end of the year. So you need to prepare for this if you exchange personal data with EU. But fear not, the nice people at Steptoe in Brussels provided the attached five point plan to the BIPAR conference on Monday. It is not too late.
And, slightly grudgingly, I have to accept that this is a better contribution that can, in part, be attributed to Isabelle BIPAR.
Hobbligatory insurance section
More earnest input from JHo. This week…
DA
- We have been advised the Lloyd’s DA team will not be working from 24th December through to the 4th January (nice for some). However, they will be monitoring the coverholder inbox for urgent queries and the Lloyd’s Europe DA team will have a rota in place over this period to help with Part VII and any last minute requests. (We suggest starting any urgent emails with a subject line of “URGENT”… or “Get on this m************”)
- Some members noted this week that a revised Lloyd’s Europe DA Wording (LBS0001B) had appeared on the Lloyd’s Wordings Repository, replacing LBS0001A. Having not received any communication about this, we made enquiries and in a nod to the festive ‘okey cokey’ traditions of New Year, it appears it was in, then out, then in (as an endorsement) but really out as this is not yet published (hey, not bad). We understand the changes are minor in nature and relate to the Managing Agent Outsourcing Agreement but will keep people updated as we hear more (duff, duff).
Tax.
- We are liaising with our tax working party, BIPAR and the Lloyd’s tax department about a German premium tax law change that will affect the application of German IPT (this cannot be the actual initialism because we all know the German for IPT would be one really long word). We are trying to gain clarity on the detail but Lloyd’s have advised they will publish details on their Taxation News webpage shortly: https://www.lloyds.com/market-resources/tax/tax-news
Hasta luego
We will spare you one of these next week because there are enough forces at large already seeking to ruin your Christmases. But be afraid, it may return in the New Year. In the meantime, thank you for all your support of LIIBA and our work (I aim this mainly at you nice people who have already paid your subscription for next year) and we look forward to continuing to provide you a hopefully useful service through 2021. I think we are all pining for the day when that can resume being a face to face service at least in part. But now that there is a new strain of the virus that is clearly going to negate all the vaccines (why else would Rishi have already extended the furlough) who knows when that will be? And with that thought, have an excellent Christmas and New Year and see you soon.
I’m off