International Marine Bureau’s centre started in 1992 following the growth in piracy on the oceans. It maintains a round the clock daily watch and, working with law enforcement, reports suspicious shipping movements, piracy and armed robbery at sea anywhere in the world. It publishes information on the Internet that puts ships’ masters on the alert. Weekly piracy report and other details can be viewed on www.iccwbo.org/ccs/ menu_imb_piracy.asp. See PIRACY.

Purchased life annuities to fund the care of the elderly entering residential or nursing homes at a time of need. The annuity takes the form of tax-free payments to the care provider as it is a part of their taxable income. Immediate care annuities are ‘designated investments’ and therefore subject to the FSA’s Conduct of Business Rules. The annuities may be linked to the Retail Price Index.

This means the proximate cause, i.e. the nearest cause in efficiency and not the nearest in time. Bacon summarised this by saying, ‘it were infinite for the law to consider the cause of causes, and their impulsions one of another, therefore, it contenteth itself with the immediate cause, and judgeth of acts by that, without looking to any further degree.