They should pump and pipe the water into the council offices. The kit would probably be cheaper than many hundreds of sandbags.

'Cameron' has just Tweeted that no one should be charged for sandbags - central governmemt will pick up the bill.

To which I responded:

Dally ‏@ZymurgyZo ·5 mins
@David_Cameron So, taxpayers who live on hills are having to subsidise those who live next to rivers? Contrary to Tory mean-spirited policy?

Clubs encourage members to act as bailiffs in terms of making sure that the regulations of the club are followed and that other anglers have the appropriate club membership. All anglers are encouraged to report pollution or suspected poaching to the EA and in the latter case also to the Police. Only EA bailiffs and the Police can demand production of an EA rod licence and to be frank the Police can't be d as they have more important things to deal with. I haven't been asked to produce a rod licence in 35 yrs of angling.

Personally I would make it compulsory to produce a rod licence before you can purchase a day ticket or club membership.

There aren't many votes in promising new infrastructure.

There are votes in promising tax cuts.

It's not only politicians who are short termist, voters can be too.....

This.

Do the media still tell us how much booze and fags are going up before anything else on Budget Day?

rlAnd Jewsons ratchet up the price of sandbags.rl

I wonder if Harry and Wills would have been helping out if the floods were up in...say, Lancashire?

I won't take the Jewson lot then...

Price elasticity of supply and demand.

Cost of rental properties in Hull went sky-high when the floods hit back in 07.

I had an empty 4 bedroom rental property during this period and several people who had been flooded enquired about it.

As it was a good property in a nice area, and people were fighting over it, I got offers of £850 a month, compared with my original advertised price of £650 a month.

Very much like the housing market in decent areas of London, where if you have a decent property there will be a bidding war and you will exceed your original asking price.

There's nothing wrong with what Jewson are doing, however, there'll be a reckoning at some point. Back during one of the fuel strikes an enterprising young man decided that petrol could be flogged far more expensively than normal, which is fine as long as a ) you have an endless supply and b ) the strike lasts forever. He didn't, it didn't. He went bust soon after.

Awww, shucks, thanks!.

After all the rainfall and floods, it looks like we now have to be aware of the threat from giant swans

That's just an example of swan upping.

Surely swan-upmanship?