What a clever juxtaposition of letter and opinion.
First, the opinion of Paul Spencer is almost a deja vu - I seem to recall Royal & SunAlliance weeping crocodile tears for Vehicle & General a good number of years ago (although, to be fair, V&G did pay a fair dividend eventually).
Second, the industry was well warned by those who knew the Independent protagonists but, as usual, the industry chose to ignore these warnings - no change there.
What has surprised the industry is that it took so long for the fall to come.
Third, it is an accepted fact of life that brokers tend to support you when you are in and ignore you when you are out - again, no change there either.
Does this all sound terribly cynical? Someone once said that a cynic was really an optimist with a lot of experience - I couldn't agree more.
Alan Lesley-Bayne
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