Christmas drink recommendations

Far be it for me to tread on Dominic Regan’s toes when it comes to wine recommendations, but with the approach of Christmas I thought I would make a few drink suggestions for the festive season.

My first is Baron De Ley Reserva Rioja.

This normally retails at £12.49 a bottle from Waitrose/Ocado. However, Costco, of all places, sells this at £57.74 for 6 bottles including delivery (working out at just £9.62 a bottle). The price drops to £9.17 in the unlikely event you are also a Costco cardholder.

The description given is:

“A traditionally styled Rioja, aged for 20 months in mainly new American oak casks, this wine displays a red ruby colour with a medium-high intensity. On the nose, a remarkably powerful blend of fruit, coconut and toffee which evolves into seductive nuances of spices and Mediterranean bush.”

“Mediterranean bush”? I wouldn’t know about any of that but it is jolly tasty. Best decanted before serving and highly recommend with Christmas lunch.

Claim numbers

The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) has been commenting on a non-story that an information request from the Compensation Recovery Unit (CRU) has shown the number of whiplash claims has fallen by 29% in only four years. There were just under 567,000 claims in the financial year 2010-11 but only 401,584 in 2013-14.

I say “non-story” as the total number of registered motor claims fell from 828,489 in 2011/12 to 772,843 in 2013/14.

Excluding non-whiplash claims from the total number of claims means the number of non-whiplash injuries has increased during the same period from 261,489 to 371,259. That is a staggering 42% increase. Now, it might be possible that non-whiplash claims have been spiralling upwards at the same time non-whiplash claims are going in the opposite direction, but the more likely explanation is that there has been a change in reporting/recording and similar claims are now been categorised in another manner.

Of more interest is the overall change in total claim numbers:

2013/14 – 1,016,801
2012/13 – 1,048,309
2011/12 – 1,041,150
2010/11 – 987,381

The first full year of the Jackson reforms has therefore seen a very modest 3% reduction in claim numbers. This is against predictions of a 25% reduction in claimant numbers. This is even more surprising when one recalls all the talk about claimant solicitors frantically trying to sign clients up before 1 April 2013. One would have expected to see a spike in 2012/13 figures followed by a reasonable drop in 2013/14 simply to reflect the front-loading of claims, even if the Jackson reforms had no actual impact on overall claim numbers. In fact, there appears to have been neither a surge in 2012/13 nor a significant drop in 2013/14.