Times, like the weather, are changing

Weatherlab Ltd went out of business in 2015. They were an independent supplier of weather data services - not only predicting whether or not the sun is likely to shine for the next bank holiday, or what the chanhes were for the usual downpour during your fortnight in Brighton, but also holding records of what the weather conditions were like worldwide in the past.

This information had value; not only as an aid to predicting what it was likely to be like in the future, but also more chances to predict future road accidents, assist in planning trasport, and even confirming weather conditions at certain locations on certain days to assist in compensation claims or even criminal investigations.

Despite these ambitious aims the company was short lived; it commenced life in 2010 but was finally liquidated in May of 2015.

Did it ever have a chance?

A quick check of the weather in various cities on different dates using Google revealed lots of information on several websites, available instantly and free of charge. Perhaps Weatherlab was a victim of the ease with which we can get hold of data nowadays. The world is changing in unexpected ways.

How motoring is changing

Another huge change is about to take place on our roads!

Cheap car insurance has become a national obsession. We are driven crazy by non stop ads for the cheapest possible policies by car insurance comparison sites each promising the very lowest premiums. They made fortunes on the back of insurers who were willing to offer cheaper prices to new customers at the expense of existing ones. Millions of motorists changed their insurance providers every year to take advantage of bargain offers.

Times are changing now though. Car sharing is becoming very popular and many young people are not buying cars at all, and merely getting temporary insurance when they borrow a car. Short term car insurance usage is growing as yearly car insurance declines; you can even insure a car for a single day now from now from this one day car insurance website.

A new law due to come into effect in January 2022 will make that illegal - possiblt to the relief of a lot of car insurers, who will almost certainly put prices up, not down. Will this spell the end of those TV ads featuring annoying opera singers and Russian rodents? I hope so.

Sell your petrol station

The next motoring shakeup is the move to electrically powered cars. From a small beginning this is gathering pace as prices fall, and the number of charging points increase. Motorists are going to get used to the idea of much cheaper running costs, as well as the quietness and cleanliness of their cars. Air purity in the cities will improve dramatically and the roar of traffic become a thing of the past.

Petrol stations will become as obsolete as candle makers, CB radios and video cassettes.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, still reeling from the loss of so much tobacco duty now smokers are a (sadly, almost literally) dying sector of the populace, will have to find a replacement for the huge sums extracted from us by taxes on petrol.

And the world will continue to change.