Free today, gone tomorrow?

On 10 September, Andrew Tjaardstra wrote: "The media has undergone a dramatic transformation in the way it delivers content over the last few years.

I have been fond of buying and reading national newspapers such as The Times and The Independent for years, I also have an Evening Standard card that allows me to pick up the paper for five pence as opposed to the 50p cover price. The last five years has seen a contradictory approach from publishers as the cover price of newspapers has risen steeply - you get little change from a £1 for one of the broadsheets and yet, at the same time, publishers are giving content away for free on the internet. It is strange how newspapers embraced this approach so readily but, clearly, they thought that advertising revenues would grow exponentially in this area. If newspapers believe that they are worth £1 in the shop, why did they begin giving the content away?"

On 24 September, Andrew Tjaardstra wrote: "I chaired a joint British Insurance Brokers' Association and Chartered Insurance Institute event in Manchester last Wednesday where a passionate Chris Hanks, head of Allianz Commercial and new deputy president of the CII, called for more cross-industry collaboration on professionalism, imarket, graduate budgets - in fact just about everything. He also attacked insurers that were constantly restructuring - saying this was a result of management failure - and that there had been too much pain and heartache in the industry with not enough long-term strategy. He added that climate change was the largest industry issue and that he was trying to work out the risks of insuring homes in southern England in 40 years."

Picture: two lucky readers' sons, Mark Hepburn and Ryan Wickham-Haynes, who won Allianz's football competition in association with PB. They enjoyed a weekend with Bayern Munich FC.