It's official: Insurance Times is the biggest, says Andy Cook
I apologise in advance. I know this slot is usually used to flag up some issue of great importance in the world of insurance.
And this week, there would be plenty of good subjects including the cost of reinsurance for next year, which was being negotiated at Monte Carlo's Rendez-vous earlier in the week.
Or there would be a good case for looking at forthcoming activity surrounding the Better Regulation Task Force's report in personal injury claims and compensation culture, where the government is due to respond in a matter of weeks.
But this week I want to talk a little bit about Insurance Times and its readers. Every year, Insurance Times and other magazines are audited to check that the figures we claim for circulation are true.
Last week, the Audit Bureau of Circulations confirmed that Insurance Times had a circulation of 19,910. And of those people who subscribe, 82% have done so in the past 12 months and the remaining 18% requested up to two years ago.
Why's this so important? Well it means that we don't send Insurance Times to dead people or people who have gone away - everyone who gets a copy has requested it recently. And it also means that Insurance Times is the biggest general insurance publication in Britain. The reason for this change is not that our circulation has changed, but one of our rivals, which used to have a much larger circulation has seen its circulation fall by a few thousand in the past year.
So if you have a story to tell, then there is no other general insurance magazine in Britain that can give you a greater circulation.
I am also delighted to announce that Insurance Times is set to run a day-long personal injury conference looking at how the regime for claims will change now that the Department for Constitutional Affairs has decided that the compensation culture is an important political issue.
Running on 10 November, the conference will look at the Better Regulation Task Force's (Arculus) report and its ideas on reform of claims managers, conditional fees and rehabilitation. It will also look at the government's response to the report.
Key speakers include Teresa Brown OBE, who is the deputy chair of the Better Regulation Task Force, Lord Hunt of Wirral, and Dominic Clayden, Norwich Union's head of claims. For more information see page 15.
On a final note, I would like to apologise to Norwich Union for suggesting that it would sell Tapestry in my leader last week.
