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Our business began life in 1710 with the establishment of the Sun Fire Office. And this year, as we celebrate our 300th anniversary, we are believed to be among the world’s oldest insurers. The principle that drove us to succeed in the embers of the Great Fire of London is the same one that drives us today: an unshakable belief that insurance should enable progress. From the epic to the everyday, we continue to help the world’s people and businesses move forward. To learn more, visit RSA300.com Home Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, in his speech to the Liberal Democrat conference in Liverpool repeated the phrase ‘stick with us’, concluding ‘Stick with us and together we will change Britain for good.Thank you.’ He told party activists: ‘If you want Liberal Democrat manifestos, make sure we win the next election.’ Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, controversially echoed Adam Smith in saying that capitalism ‘kills competition’.A man with no arms or legs swam the Channel from Folkestone to Wissant, near Calais, in 13-and-a-half hours.

David Cameron, the Prime Minister, seeing off Pope Benedict XVI at Birmingham airport after his four-day state visit to Britain, said: ‘You have really challenged the whole country to sit up and think.’ Predictions of a poor reception for Pope Benedict had proved notably false. Before an open-air congregation of 50,000 he had beatified John Henry, Cardinal Newman. In an address to both Houses of Parliament in Westminster Hall he had spoken in favour of ‘the legitimate role of religion in the public square’ and of ‘the public celebration of festivals such as Christmas’.At Lambeth Palace, RowanWilliams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, urged a common ‘commitment to the dignity of all human beings, from the beginning to the end of life’. Six roadsweepers arrested on suspicion of a plot to blow up the Pope were released without charge.

TheEngland andWales Cricket Board threatened to take legal action against Ijaz Butt, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, for claiming England threw the third one-day game at The Oval.The International Cricket Council also examined Pakistan’s scoring pattern in the game, in a continuing controversy over claims of bribery in betting deals. Imran Farooq, a founder of the Muttahida Quami Movement party in Pakistan, was stabbed and beaten to death outside his house in Edgware, London. The British Government committed another £70 million in aid to Pakistan to help with flood relief, bringing its total donation to £134 million. Jonathan Evans, the head of MI5, the security service, expressed concern about the influence of the Yemen-based Islamist cleric,Anwar al-Awlaki, whose sermons have featured in more than 5,000 videos onYouTube.

Abroad North Korea’s ruling party is to hold its first conference since 1980 on Tuesday, perhaps to name Kim Jong-il’s third son, Kim Jong-un, as his successor.The North Korean women’s association football team beat the Middlesbrough Ladies team 6-2. The US Senate blocked debate on whether homosexual people should join the armed forces. Christine O’Donnell, the Republican Senate candidate backed by supporters of the Tea Party movement, made light of remarks she had made in 1999 about dabbling in witchcraft at high school. She said: ‘We went to a movie and then had a little midnight picnic on a satanic altar.’ Afghanistan held a general election with the spectator | 25 September 2010 | www.spectator.co.uk

2,500 candidates standing for 249 seats. Turnout was put at 40 per cent, at least 17 were killed, including three kidnapped members of the Independent Election Commission, and there were many reports of fraud. British troops handed responsibility for security in Sangin, where they had lost 106 men in five years, to US forces. Other Arab states in the Gulf joined Saudi Arabia in agreeing to buy $123 billion of American arms. OmarAbdirashid Ali Sharmarke resigned as the Prime Minister of Somalia, where the Islamist group al-Shabab is struggling to take control of Mogadishu, the capital.A Somali man on his way to Uganda was arrested at Schiphol airport in Holland on charges related to terrorism. Holland announced spending cuts of £2.7 billion on pay for state employees, healthcare and the funding of language classes for immigrants. In Yemen, 15,000 fled their homes in a government offensive against al-Qa’eda.

Twelve days before the opening of the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, a footbridge collapsed, injuring 23 labourers. The chief executive of the Commonwealth Games Federation also complained of ‘excrement in places it shouldn’t be’ in the residential complex. Japan continued to detain the captain of a Chinese vessel that had collided a fortnight earlier with Japanese patrol vessels near the disputed and uninhabited Senkaku Islands. Murray Sayle, the journalist, died, aged 84.A 12in shaft reached the 33 miners trapped 2,000ft underground in Chile. Nearly 400 Morelet’s crocodiles up to 10ft long escaped from a breeding centre 25 miles upstream from Vera Cruz in Mexico. CSH

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