European bogeymen
Michael Gove said ‘remain’ campaigners were spreading tales of bogeymen. But what is a bogeyman? Appropriately enough, the concept of an imagined monster is a pan-European concept which has exercised the right to free movement for centuries.
— The boggel-mann has been terrifying children in Germanic cultures since the Middle Ages, as has the bussemand in Scandinavian countries. In Dutch, he became the boeman.
— Middle English had its bugge-man and Scotland its boggarts — the latter suggesting a possible connection with marshy ground. But possibly the earliest bogeyman was bugibu, a monster in a French poem written in the 1140s.
Reversed forecasts
A Treasury report claimed that leaving the EU would leave the UK economy 6% smaller by 2030. Can the Treasury forecast GDP a year ahead, let alone 14 years ahead? Some previous efforts:
| Previous year’s prediction | |
| 2008 | 2.5-3% |
| 2009 | 4-6 mths |
| 2010 | 2.25%-2.75% |
| 2011 | 2.3% |
| Outcome | |
| 2008 | -4.2% |
| 2009 | -1.3% |
| 2010 | 1.8% |
| 2011 | 2.1% |
After that, the Treasury handed predicting growth to the OBR.
Elizabethan age
The Queen celebrated her 90th birthday. It isn’t just the royals who are living longer.
— In 1952 life expectancy at birth was 66 for men and 70 for women. It is now 79.1 and 82.8 respectively.
— There were 300 Britons over the age of 100 in 1952. There are now 14,500, with another 527,000 over 90.
— In 1952, 1.5% of women over 65 were still working. Now, 6.5% are.
The big money
BP shareholders voted against the £13.8m pay package of chief executive Bob Dudley, although he has already been paid the money. Which FTSE bosses earn the most relative to their average employee (not accounting for part-time staff)?
| Total pay in 2014 | |
| Martin Sorrell, WPP | £29.8m |
| Simon Wolfson, Next | £4.6m |
| Richard Cousins, Compass | £5.5m |
| Andy Harrison, Whitbread | £6.4m |
| Peter Long, TUI Travel | £10m |
| Multiple of average employee’s earnings | |
| Martin Sorrell, WPP | 780 |
| Simon Wolfson, Next | 459 |
| Richard Cousins, Compass | 418 |
| Andy Harrison, Whitbread | 415 |
| Peter Long, TUI Travel | 377 |
Source: High Pay Centre
You might disagree with half of it, but you’ll enjoy reading all of it. Try your first 10 weeks for just $10
Show comments
-
No Good Boyo
