Side hustles

David Solomon, chief executive of Goldman Sachs, said he would stop DJing in clubs, following criticism from the bank’s board. For years he had performed under the alias D-Sol, playing electronic dance music. Some other unlikely side hustles:

– In 2017 King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands revealed that for the past 21 years he had been a co-pilot for KLM.

– While prime minister in 1971, Edward Heath both captained the British yachting team to victory in the Admiral’s Cup and conducted the London Symphony Orchestra.

– Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross has worked as a referee and linesman in the Scottish football league.

– Devi Sridhar, professor of global health at the University of Edinburgh, who became the public face of the Scottish government’s Covid response, also worked as Nicola Sturgeon’s personal trainer.

Big borrowers

Government borrowing came in lower than expected in September. Nevertheless, it has had to borrow £143.3 billion in the past 12 months. How does that compare with department budgets?

Health and Social Care            £181.7bn
Education                                      £81.7bn
Defence                                          £52.8bn
Scotland                                         £42bn
Transport                                       £30bn

In other words, we could close every school and dismantle the armed forces – and still we would have a deficit.

The price of food

Are the poor spending more of their money feeding themselves than they used to? Per cent of total spend on food and drink by lowest 20 per cent of households by income:

2008 – 16.8%
2010 – 15.8%
2012 – 16.2%
2014 – 16.4%
2016 – 16%
2018 – 15.2%
2020 – 14.7%
2022 – 14.8%

Source: Defra

Rain, rain, go away

Parts of Scotland were forecast to have 250mm of rain in a day. In the event, 175mm was recorded in Angus in 24 hours. How does that compare with the records?

– The highest ever recorded in a single day in Britain was 279mm on 18 July 1955 at Martinstown, Dorset. The Scottish record is 238mm at Sloy Main Adit, Argyll and Bute, on 17 January 1974.
– The UK record for a 24-hour period is 341.4mm at Honister Pass, Cumbria from 6 p.m. on 4 December to 5 December 2015. The two-day record is 405mm, also on 4 and 5 December, at Thirlmere, Cumbria.