The popularity of Formula One racing seems unassailable, maintaining its appeal from the 1950s, when it offered glimpses of impossible glamour, to the current hit documentary series on Netflix, Formula 1: Drive To Survive.
The sport has has been a global phenomenon, which is part of the reason many readers were struck yesterday by the passing of Eddie Jordan at the age of 76.
The racing team he founded and owned, Jordan Grand Prix, joined the Formula One circuit in 1991, and by 1999 the team had finished third in the Constructors’ Championship with drivers Damon Hill and Heinz-Harald Frentzen, while the latter also finished third in the Drivers’ Championship.
Even this towering achievement — muscling his way into competition with the traditional powerhouses on the Formula One circuit such as Ferrari — undersells the force of Jordan’s personality.
With his tan, curls, and sunglasses, he gave off a tangible sense of dynamism, and his record in the cut-throat competition on racetracks all around the world showed that dynamism was grounded in reality — and a deep knowledge of his sport. It was Jordan, after all, who gave Michael Schumacher, one of the greatest drivers of all time, his debut, proving that the Irishman had a keen eye for talent.
It should also be acknowledged that he was a shining example for the Ireland of the early ’90s, when the Celtic Tiger was a few years in the distance. It has become a cliche to see trace elements of Ireland’s boom in a range of national phenomena during the preceding years, but Jordan’s team reaching Formula One was a truly significant step.
An Irish venture matching the best in the world in an impossibly glamorous sport, one tracked by countless millions across the globe, was groundbreaking. To do so in 1991 was arguably an even greater achievement than it would be nowadays, and Jordan deserves huge credit for offering a specific image of Irish endeavour and enterprise — as competitive, ambitious, innovative, and energetic.
That sense of energy never left Eddie Jordan. Unwell though he was, as recently as last month he led a consortium which bought the London Irish rugby club out of administration. May he rest in peace.
litigation costs hurt consumers
Figures published this week in the Central Bank’s National Claims Information Database report for 2023 showed that insurance companies’ profits increased for a third consecutive year — good news for those companies.
However, drilling into those figures may not provide quite as much enjoyment for consumers.
According to the report, most injury insurance claims are settled through litigation rather than the State’s Injuries Resolution Board — with the report stating that 68% were made through litigation in 2023.
The difference between opting for litigation instead of the board can be summed up in one word: Costs.
According to the Central Bank’s statistics, the average personal liability injury settlement cost for claims of less than €150,000 was €23,000 for cases involving litigation and cases before the board between 2015 and 2023.
However, the figures diverge sharply when it comes to legal costs. Those amount to €1,000 for cases taken through the board, while legal costs in cases involving litigation were €23,000. Having legal costs which are 23 times higher if one takes a particular course of action seems extraordinary to say the least.
A spokesman for Insurance Ireland, the representative body for the insurance industry, pointed out this week that claimants tend to be guided by legal advisors, which may explain why more people tend to go through litigation rather than the board. Also, claims take two years to be processed by the board — but it takes six years for litigated claims to settle, with legal costs building up accordingly.
It is intrinsically better to have a faster and cheaper system of settling claims, but there is another complication arising from the more expensive litigation process.
The increased costs associated with that process are ultimately passed onto the customer, which means higher premium costs. Moving away from the litigation process in favour of the Injuries Resolution Board would be far better for those customers for that reason alone.
Chilling effect
We are accustomed to disturbing news coming from the US since the return of Donald Trump to the White House, but this week brought a development likely to give pause to Irish readers.
Philippe Baptiste, France’s minister of higher education and research, said this week that a French scientist travelling to Houston in Texas for a conference was denied entry to the US and then expelled from the country after immigration
officers looked through his phone.
“This measure was apparently taken by the American authorities because the researcher’s phone contained exchanges with colleagues and friends in which he expressed a personal opinion on the Trump administration’s research policy,” said Mr Baptiste.
It is already a cliche to describe some of the Trump administration’s measures as chilling, but this news will provide food for thought for those visiting America.
Will it be necessary to go through one’s phone beforehand to wipe away any criticism of the US president? Will immigration officers end up reading travellers’ emails and posts on social media?
From now on, when airline pilots announce that their flights are approaching an American destination, that declaration may be accompanied by passengers’ furious deletions of material from their devices.
