You’re going to need your wellies this winter, according to the Federation of Small Businesses, as it predicts an especially nasty winter.
Hang on a tick – since when did a small business trade industry body decide to move into the realm of weather forecasting and meteorology? I know it sounds a bit mad, but it’s actually a fair warning. Yes, I know you’re looking at me a bit askance right now as well, but the FSB – an organisation that sticks up for small firm owners like contractors and other sole traders – pointed out that this year was the wettest one on record and that there was more where that came from. In other words, you’d be daft not to put some kind of plan together to deal with flooding or any other extreme weather situations.
The FSB isn’t just mucking about, either. It surveyed the nearly 1,200 members that comprise the trade industry body, discovering that some 59 per cent of SMEs don’t have even the barest beginnings of a plan in place. Meanwhile, 66 per cent of these same FSB members said that thy ended up having to deal with snow, floods, or drought in some form or another for the last three years. You would think that after all this time there would be more of an urgency behind getting all their ducks in a row but apparently the nation’s small business owners enjoy gambling against the future.
The truth is that you don’t need a bloody crystal ball to know that the weather is getting increasingly rough every year. I don’t care if you’re one of those few madmen who don’t believe in climate change or global warming; you can’t argue with scientific figures, and they all say the Earth’s weather patterns are getting more and more erratic. You’ve simply no choice but to take precautions against damage caused by flooding or any other so-called “Act of God” that could hammer the UK anytime between now and, well pretty much until the end of time, with our luck.
So do yourself a favour and take at least rudimentary precautions. If that means spending a few quid on some cut-rate flood insurance, so what? Would you rather have it and not need it… or need it and not have it?
