Enduring love

The Queen and Prince Philip celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary.
They are not the first public figures to reach this milestone — former US president George H.W. Bush and his wife Barbara did so in 2015, while the UNO Center for Public Affairs has calculated that around 40,000 American couples have been married for at least as long.

The Queen and Duke have some catching up to do with some of their own subjects, too. Karam and Kartari Chand married in the Punjab in 1925, moved to Bradford in 1965 and in December 2015 celebrated their 90th wedding anniversary before Karam died ten months later, aged 110. Kartari celebrated her 105th birthday earlier this month.

When building boomed

Philip Hammond wants Britain to build 300,000 new homes a year. Last year we built 170,450. How does that compare with the most and least active years since 1949?

MOST 1968
425,830

1967
415,460
1966
396,011
1965
391,230
1964
383,190 LEAST 2013
135,340
2010
135,970

2011
140,680

2012
141,550
2014
145,010

Source: Department for Communities and Local Government

Driven away

The Chancellor wants driverless cars on Britain’s roads by 2021 but says that this will not lead to unemployment. How many people now earn their living by driving?

VEHICLE TYPE
DRIVER NUMBERS
Large goods vehicles
315,500
Vans
251,200

Buses
224,900 licence holders
Taxis
356,300 licence holders
Driving instructors
39,400
registered

Sources: Freight Transport Association; DVLA

Can less be more?

How have gradual cuts in corporation tax in the last decade affected tax receipts as a percentage of Britain’s national GDP?

YEAR
RATE / RECEIPT
2007/08
30% / 2.67%
2008/09
28% / 2.51%
2009/10
28% / 2.19%
2010/11
28% / 2.52%
2011/12
26% / 2.49%
2012/13
24% / 2.31%
2013/14
23% / 2.25%
2014/15
21% / 2.33%
2015/16
20% / 2.35%
2016/17
20% / 2.58%