Give thanks you live in England

That wicked old imperialist Cecil (no relation) Rhodes famously declared: "Remember that you are an Englishman, and have consequently won first prize in the lottery of life," writes Peter Rhodes.

Rhodes was talking in terms of race but if he had been discussing weather and seismology, he would have been spot-on.

As Christchurch rebuilds and Japan weeps, look around the world.

Try to find somewhere that is built on coal and surrounded by fish, where the climate is temperate, the soil is fertile, the fauna is non-lethal and where typhoons, earthquakes, tsunamis, drought and hurricanes are almost unknown - and where the worst of the rain obligingly falls on the Irish and the Welsh.

What a blessed plot this England is.