Popularity polling
Vladimir Putin won the Russian presidential election with 87.3% of the vote. But he doesn’t appear to be quite the world’s most popular leader. Some others who have won commanding election victories:
– Robert Mugabe won 61.9% of the vote in the 2013 Zimbabwean election.
– Alexander Lukashenko won 81% in Belarus’s 2020 presidential election.
– Ilham Aliyev won 94% of the vote in last month’s election in Azerbaijan.
– Bashar al-Assad won 95% of the vote in Syria in 2021.
– Kim Jong-Un was elected with 100% of the vote on a 100% turnout in the Mount Paektu District in the North Korean elections in 2014. Across the country the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland won 100% of the vote on a turnout of 99.9%.
Hotting up
Are the installation costs of heat pumps falling? Average cost adjusted for inflation.
2019 £10,328
2020 £11,592
2021 £12,041
2022 £13,396
2023 £11,287
Source: National Audit Office
Road runners
The M25 was closed either side of junction 10 with the A3 for an entire weekend to allow reconstruction works – the first such closure during daytime in the motorway’s 40-year history. How much traffic do our motorways carry? Average number of vehicles per day in 2022 at the most and least busy junctions.
Most
M25 J14-15 204,000
M25 J15-16 201,000
M25 J13-14 200,000
M60 J12-13 191,000
M25 J12-13 191,000
Least
M48 J1-2 14,000
M50 J2-3 24,000
M90 J8-9 26,000
M49 J1-2 26,000
M58 J1-3 27,000
Source: Department for Transport
Brain waves
Which towns have the highest, and lowest, percentages of their populations made up of graduates?
Highest
Duffield (Derbyshire) 72.1%
Harpenden (Herts) 69.0%
Gerrards Cross (Bucks) 66.1%
Beaconsfield (Bucks) 63.2%
Ilkley (W Yorks) 62.6%
Lowest
Ferryhill (Durham) 12.6%
New Ollerton (Notts) 12.8%
Partington (Greater Manchester) 14.1%
Shirebrook (Derbyshire) 14.5%
Conisburgh (South Yorkshire) 14.5%
Source: ONS (2021 Census)
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