"in fact" column - extracts from October's Prospect magazine
The 7th July London bombings accounted for 7 per cent of all homicides in England and Wales in 2005/6. (Home Office)
Transport for London employs 232 people on more than £100,000 a year. The home office employs 43; the treasury seven. (Boris Johnson)
The Finns spend more on ice cream than any other European nation, averaging $110 a head in 2005— just beating the Italians. Britons spend less than half that figure. (Euromonitor)
53 per cent of births in London are to immigrant mothers. In Kensington and Chelsea the figure is 68 per cent. (Newsweek, 6th August 2007)
British families spend as much time eating together today as they did in the 1970s. (Economic and Social Research Council)
In 2002, Bangladesh became the first country to ban plastic bags. (The Guardian, 12th May 2007)
In 2006, 177 British men had cosmetic surgery to reduce their breast size. (Harper's, May 2007)
About 25 per cent of American workers in the private sector get no paid holiday at all. (New Republic, 30th July 2007)
Windscreen wipers, laser printers and bulletproof vests were all invented by women. (British association for the advancement of science)
About 80 per cent of all news on the internet originates from print newspapers. (New York Review of Books, 16th August 2007)
Four of the five richest Americans are college dropouts. Bill Gates, casino owner Sheldon Adelson, Oracle's Larry Ellison, and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. ( All the money in the world: how the Forbes 400 make—and spend—their fortunes, by Peter W Bernstein and Annalynw Swan)
Transport for London employs 232 people on more than £100,000 a year. The home office employs 43; the treasury seven. (Boris Johnson)
The Finns spend more on ice cream than any other European nation, averaging $110 a head in 2005— just beating the Italians. Britons spend less than half that figure. (Euromonitor)
53 per cent of births in London are to immigrant mothers. In Kensington and Chelsea the figure is 68 per cent. (Newsweek, 6th August 2007)
British families spend as much time eating together today as they did in the 1970s. (Economic and Social Research Council)
In 2002, Bangladesh became the first country to ban plastic bags. (The Guardian, 12th May 2007)
In 2006, 177 British men had cosmetic surgery to reduce their breast size. (Harper's, May 2007)
About 25 per cent of American workers in the private sector get no paid holiday at all. (New Republic, 30th July 2007)
Windscreen wipers, laser printers and bulletproof vests were all invented by women. (British association for the advancement of science)
About 80 per cent of all news on the internet originates from print newspapers. (New York Review of Books, 16th August 2007)
Four of the five richest Americans are college dropouts. Bill Gates, casino owner Sheldon Adelson, Oracle's Larry Ellison, and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. ( All the money in the world: how the Forbes 400 make—and spend—their fortunes, by Peter W Bernstein and Annalynw Swan)
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