As the world reeled with the news that Pope Benedict XVI was to resign, another bolt from the blue was to hit the Vatican within hours.

BBC: Lightning really does strike twice

But some say that it is absurd to depict the law lords' judgment as a bolt from the blue.

ECONOMIST: Equitable Life: The blame game | The

If, at the time of the Cuban missile crisis, for example, which you and I remember because we were around, it had all gone wrong and the Russians had put a bolt from the blue on London and Mr MacMillan was killed, the decision whether to launch the B-force, the B-bombers with their hydrogen bombs, would have gone to the Chief of Bomber Command, an airman in uniform.

BBC