The Hottest Insurance Gossip

Polly has been hearing the tale behind the headlines over theindustry's reported refusal to give 'our boys' life cover should they endup going to war in the Gulf.

It seems that the national media got hold of the wrong end of the stickwhen members of the armed forces got in touch with them. The pieces thatappeared intimated that soldiers were told that, if they were killedduring the conflict, their families would not receive any benefits fromtheir existing life assurance policies.

However, that was not the case. The misunderstanding arose after a numberof soldiers called insurers up and asked if they could buy life cover forthe duration of the conflict. As one insurer told Polly: "I cannot believeanyone can think that we should be expected to cover a member of the armedforces who decides to take out life cover days before flying off to apotential war in the Middle East, having not given it a thought in thepast."

Polly heroically battled through the January blizzards to attend a press'do' in the City thrown by insurer Highway. With snow falling outside, theparty was held in one of the lovely upstairs rooms of an old pub, with anopen fire, and a good time was had by all.

However, Polly couldn't help noticing that the party was proving to be abig attraction to some others in the pub that night. She was intrigued tosee a steady stream of people walking into the party, stopping at theentrance, nodding sagely and then moving away.

In fact, in turned out that Highway was sharing the venue with theBulgarian City Club, whose own private room was close by. And though itwas snowing for all it was worth, Polly couldn't help noticing a distinctlack of brollies outside their door...

Insurers have been getting some strange calls from the town of Holmsley inHampshire, Polly has heard. It seems a Renault Clio, fencing and afishpond were damaged following a mysterious 'rampage' last month.

However, the police did not have far to go to find the culprit - it turnedto be a very rare cow, which escaped from its field and tore through thetown before plunging over a nearby cliff and falling 30 feet onto a ledgebelow.

The Irish Moiled cow is worth £3,000, and is, Polly was reliably informed,one of only 216 left in the world. Happily, she was winched - unhurt - tosafety by fire crews.