The hottest insurance gossip

Hello. Yes, it's me. What do you think? One's close friends are all being very charming following Polly's 'trying to turn back the years' makeover but - whatever you think - the new wardrobe is great. The only real problem is not smoking - especially out on the town - and to be honest it's hell, but one's taste buds are slowly returning ...

Anyway, enough of me. Polly recently had a chance to catch up with entrepreneur Kevin 'wheeler-dealer' Spencer, unofficial 'get the British in Gibraltar' campaigner. Apparently, the said Mr Spencer was recently approached by a northern football team ahead of the new season which was looking for a new backer in the wake of spurious reports that he had been thwarted in his attempts to acquire a Premier League club. Needless to say, while flattered, he couldn't help.

Talking of balls. Polly understands that at the recent Barry Cottle cricket shield - which has been held since 1990 between former broker writer Brian Susman's well-known Bedouins eleven and Policymaster, now Sirius - ringers were the order of the day.

Apparently Sirius captain Andy Wiseman, fed up with being whipped every year, decided to bring in extras, including Lloyd Hanks from Groupama as wicket keeper, Alistair McLaren of NFU Mutual and former Aston Villa footballer Gary Shaw. This strategy definitely worked, with the Sirius ringers' eleven winning on the last ball. Howzat!

When not watching amateur cricket, of course, Polly is out and about on the circuit. Polly was amused to hear recently that a top-rated insurance company PR spokeswoman had revealed a level of knowledge about insurance even lower than her own. Asked to comment on some figures by rating agency AM Best, the aforementioned woman replied: "Who's this ambest outfit anyway?"

And finally, as autumn looms, Polly would like to hark back to the balmy days of the heatwave and to offer her congratulations to Mark Bishop at Allianz Cornhill who apparently drove his family to the south of France in the middle of the hot spell. Cool. Not.