Gig economy

Donald Trump had the Village People perform at a concert prior to his inauguration. Who topped the bill at previous presidential inaugurations, either on the day or at accompanying concerts?

– Joe Biden (2021): Lady Gaga

– Donald Trump (2017): Kid Rock

– Barack Obama (2013): Beyoncé

– Barack Obama (2009): Aretha Franklin

– George W. Bush (2001): Wayne Newton

– Bill Clinton (1993): Michael Jackson

– George H.W. Bush (1989): Stevie Ray Vaughan (rhythm and blues star)

– Ronald Reagan (1981): Frank Sinatra

– Jimmy Carter (1977): Leonard Bernstein

Trade marks

President Trump is threatening a trade war. How important is our trading relationship with the US?

– In 2023 we imported £57.9bn in goods and £57.4bn in services from the US.

– We exported £60.4bn worth of goods and £126.3bn worth of services.

– The US accounted for 15.3% of our exports in goods and 27% in services.

– Our biggest goods exports were medicines and other pharmaceuticals (£8.8bn, 33.9% of the UK’s total exports in this field), cars (£6.4bn, 18.4%) and mechanical power generators (£5.2bn, 15.2%).

– Our biggest services exports were management consulting and PR (£22.9bn, 54.8% of total UK exports in this field).  

Drug store

How many illegal drugs were seized by police and customs in England and Wales in 2024?

– 85.01 tons cannabis; 26.57 tons cocaine; 441kg heroin; 86kg ketamine; 40kg crack cocaine; 1.62m doses ecstasy; 74,390 doses methadone; 1.4kg fentanyl; 8,990 doses LSD. 

Source: Home Office

Fat of the land

How much money are buy-to-let investors earning?

– In 2022/23, 2.81m people declared income from property on their income tax returns (which excludes people who hold properties in a corporate wrapper).

– The mean gross income per landlord was £16,800. Some 52% of landlords made income of between £0 and £10,000.

– Mean expenses were £9,200 per landlord, giving a mean profit of £7,600 per landlord.

– Landlords between them declared income on 130,000 holiday lets. The total income from them (£2.23bn) was 5% of total income from letting property.

Source: HMRC