More information on flood warnings can be found at uk/floodwarning.Some estimates put the cost of flood damage last year as high as £2bn, with more than 10,000 homes and businesses affected. A £106m flood defence package was announced by the Government in October to try to protect the most vulnerable areas, but much of the work will take months to complete. And ministers stressed it would be impossible to remove the risk of flooding altogether.Some of the floods were the worst in living memory and the apparently increasingly vol-atile weather of recent winters has prompted further examination on the impact of global warming.The Environment Agency spokeswoman said yesterday there had been no repetition of that scale of flooding, and the existing number of alerts was not unusual for the time of year.. In their heyday, they brought a taste of continental sophistication to seaside towns such as Scarborough, Morecambe and Plymouth, and now a campaign has been launched to preserve the lidos of Britain. Its campaign, aiming to persuade the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to grant lidos listed status, comes too late to spare those at Blackpool, Morecambe and St Anne’s, in Lancashire; New Brighton on the Wirral peninsula and Portobello in London, to name a few.But the society has enlisted support from unexpected quarters – the writer Julie Burchill has accused councils of “lidocide”, while Evian water has provided sponsorship for London’s Brockwell Park lido.Of particular concern to the society are the lidos at Scarborough, on the east Yorkshire coast, and Droitwich, the Worcestershire spa town. A Grade II listing is being sought for the Scarborough pool, which was the largest in Europe when it was built. The seawater pool closed in 1989 and has been under threat since.Emmanuelle Morgan, a spokeswoman for the society, said the aim was to use lottery funding.

Outdoor pools had failed to win sports lottery fund money, so salvation lay in getting them listed, the only route to heritage lottery cash.”Despite the indifference of generations of councillors, the lido provided the equivalent of today’s gym: combining fitness and social interaction,” Ms Morgan said. “Health and leisure, key words in the 1930s social commentary, equally informed the architectural language of the period.”. Last year it was pogo sticks. This year’s youth craze may well be football cards bearing pictures of pieces of unwashed Manchester United players’ shirts and used boots

Last year it was pogo sticks. The packs of eight cards, which cost £1.99, go on general sale this week. The accompanying marketing fanfare could spawn a wave of plundered piggy banks, playground fisticuffs and exasperated parents.There are 135 regular cards to collect. Matchworn shirt cards can be found in one in every 48 packs, and come from the backs of 13 players.

Slices of three players’ boots have been incorporated in 25 cards There are also various autographed cards. The rarest is David Beckham’s signed gold card, of which there are seven. Upper Deck, the American manufacturer and world leader in trading cards, is offering £2,000 to anyone who finds one ­ and wishes to part with it.Nico Blauw, Upper Deck’s European divisional business manager, predicted “The cards are going to sell like crazy.”The company has seen success in America with similar cards devoted to baseball, basketball and American football They are also popular in Japan. The company may feature other teams if the cards sell well.Football-inspired games are expected to do well this year as interest mounts for the World Cup.

Next to Mr Blauw’s stand was one devoted to FlipFootball, a card game that pits Manchester United against Roughburn Rovers. Costing £12.99, it includes a CD with pro and anti United chants.Another playground craze is expected to be spinning tops, in particular the BeyBlade by Hasbro, voted Japan’s number one toy at the World Hobby Fair in Tokyo. Thousands of Japanese children still get excited each time a new top is launched. .Children can customise their own tops using interchangeable parts ­ the attack ring, the weight disk, the spin gear and the blade base. The skill is in trying to predict the best combination to ensure your top hits your rival’s top out of an arena or be the last one standing. The winner can then claim the losing top’s plastic collectable disc. The tops cost £5.99, but no child will be satisfied with just one.