Book of the week

The UK and US governments refuse to pay ransoms to terrorists who kidnap their citizens owing to concern that to do so would be unethical and send the wrong signal. But families affected by hostage-taking understandably care more about the return of their loved ones. A business has sprung up to cater for, Anja Shortland of King’s College London examines the operations of a secretive area of the Lloyd’s of London insurance market, which provides what is known as “K&R cover” for firms, individuals and organisations – in other words, insurance against the risk of being held hostage for money. Shortland’s conclusion is that this works better than you might think for all parties, especially when compared with the interventions of governments and civil servants.