Big companies must now show compassion to flood victims

When our backs are against the wall, that's when the British usually show their best.

Well, now - with floods affecting so many people across whole swathes of the country - is one of those occasions.

And we hear heart-warming stories:

• Yorkshire farmers - who have donated animal feed and bedding to farmers in the south
• The army - inevitably doing a fantastic job
• Prince William and Prince Harry - lending a hand to pile up sandbags in Datchett
• Many neighbours and communities coming together to help others through the situation.

Let us hope that institutions that hold many of the keys will be similarly helpful. These would include:

• Water companies
• Electricity and gas suppliers
• Insurance companies

For once, show some compassion to people who need help, and don't just think of how you can turn other people's misfortune into profit.

Who knows, perhaps a kind deed or two might stand you in good stead.

Let's leave the engaged couple alone

So Prince William is to marry long-term girlfriend Kate Middleton in summer 2011.

The pair of 28-year-olds became engaged in October while on holiday in Kenya. They have been dating since meeting in 2002 at St Andrews University in Scotland.

The TV media have already set up camp in north Wales, where William is serving with the RAF, and at Miss Middleton's tiny home village of Bucklebury in Berkshire. One hopes, however, that they won't remain there until the wedding day!

I'm not sure what the public reaction will be, but I can't see it being as intense as it was for William's mother, Princess Diana, when she first started seeing Prince Charles back in 1981. Nevertheless, whether the public shrugs a shoulder at the news, the media - TV, radio, newspapers, glossy magazines - will try to convince us that we should be following the pair's every move for the next seven or eight months (no wedding date as yet).

I wish them well - but leave them alone, eh?